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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  4. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  15. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  16. Where did you ________________ them?
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  20. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. kick — with a leg
  2. clip — a video
  3. mug — a face
  4. object — to protest
  5. wound — an injury
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. branch — a division
  8. clip — to cut
  9. object — an aim
  10. wound — an injury
  11. mug — a cup
  12. degree — from a university
  13. clip — for paper
  14. branch — of a tree
  15. kick — a thrill
  16. mug — to rob
  17. march — the month
  18. degree — temperature
  19. kick — in football
  20. object — a thing
  21. march — music
  22. degree — an amount
  23. march — the month
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com