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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  3. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. The ________________ went through the wall.
  22. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. fork — in a road
  3. club — a group
  4. degree — an amount
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. race — a contest
  7. race — humankind
  8. degree — temperature
  9. clip — for paper
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. tear — to rip
  12. club — for dancing
  13. degree — from a university
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. tear — from crying
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. row — a line
  18. nail — on a finger
  19. row — to paddle
  20. clip — a video
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. club — for golf
  23. clip — to cut
  24. race — the arms race

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