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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. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  2. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  22. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — to succeed
  2. pass — a permit
  3. degree — temperature
  4. clip — for paper
  5. pass — to spend time
  6. fall — to drop
  7. fall — the season
  8. degree — from a university
  9. drill — army training
  10. drill — a practice
  11. fall — to drop
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. clip — to cut
  16. clip — a video
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. degree — an amount
  19. bat — the animal
  20. squash — the sport
  21. perch — the fish
  22. squash — to crush
  23. drill — the tool
  24. perch — for a bird

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