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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. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  11. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — an eyelash
  2. degree — an amount
  3. race — humankind
  4. clip — to cut
  5. game — wild animals
  6. degree — from a university
  7. game — a match
  8. clip — for paper
  9. field — a subject
  10. track — to keep track
  11. lash — to lash out
  12. track — a song
  13. clip — a video
  14. degree — temperature
  15. field — farmland
  16. ground — crushed
  17. race — the arms race
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. race — a contest
  20. track — a path
  21. ground — the earth
  22. field — for sport
  23. ground — a position
  24. lash — a whip stroke

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