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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. degree — from a university
  3. lash — a whip stroke
  4. race — humankind
  5. race — a contest
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. lie — to recline
  8. spell — letters
  9. lie — an untruth
  10. degree — an amount
  11. lie — an untruth
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. spell — magic
  14. clip — for paper
  15. race — the arms race
  16. capital — money
  17. degree — temperature
  18. lash — an eyelash
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. lash — to lash out
  21. clip — a video
  22. spell — a short time
  23. trunk — of an elephant
  24. capital — a city

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