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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  13. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  14. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  15. That must've been a ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  18. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  19. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  20. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  21. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. clip — a video
  3. rush — hurry
  4. race — a contest
  5. fall — to drop
  6. pitch — completely
  7. race — humankind
  8. clip — for paper
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. degree — temperature
  11. race — the arms race
  12. rush — to hurry
  13. pit — a fruit stone
  14. season — of the year
  15. rush — a thrill
  16. clip — to cut
  17. pit — a hole
  18. pitch — a sports field
  19. pitch — a sales talk
  20. fall — the season
  21. fall — to drop
  22. degree — an amount
  23. pit — in a race
  24. season — in sport

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