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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 124 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. My father caught me by the ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. Did you ________________ the meat?
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  23. You don't need to ________________ round.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. clip — a video
  3. season — of the year
  4. game — wild animals
  5. degree — an amount
  6. march — the month
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. degree — from a university
  9. clip — to cut
  10. clip — for paper
  11. march — music
  12. degree — temperature
  13. pop — music
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. pop — soda
  16. spell — magic
  17. season — in sport
  18. game — a match
  19. spell — letters
  20. season — to add flavour
  21. spell — a short time
  22. arm — a part of something
  23. pop — to visit
  24. march — the month

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