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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 116 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. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. That was ________________ to happen.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  20. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. file — a tool
  3. bat — the animal
  4. clip — to cut
  5. degree — an amount
  6. tube — a container
  7. degree — from a university
  8. fall — to drop
  9. bound — obliged
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. bound — certain
  12. file — a line of people
  13. cell — a phone
  14. cell — in biology
  15. file — a document
  16. degree — temperature
  17. clip — for paper
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. tube — in a tire
  20. fall — to drop
  21. clip — a video
  22. fall — the season
  23. bound — tied together
  24. bat — in an idiom

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