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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. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. The tickets are free of ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. charge — electricity
  3. prune — to trim
  4. charge — in control
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. prune — to trim
  7. degree — temperature
  8. squash — the vegetable
  9. degree — from a university
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. clip — for paper
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. charge — a price
  15. clip — a video
  16. clip — to cut
  17. squash — to crush
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. sharp — clever
  20. game — wild animals
  21. squash — the sport
  22. game — a match
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. degree — an amount

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