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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 116 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 ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  6. You don't need to ________________ round.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — a sauce
  2. clip — for paper
  3. spell — a short time
  4. mine — for digging
  5. leaves — of a tree
  6. pop — to visit
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. degree — from a university
  9. clip — a video
  10. dip — to dunk
  11. pop — soda
  12. leaves — lets stay
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. pop — music
  15. degree — an amount
  16. leaves — to go away
  17. clip — to cut
  18. mark — a grade
  19. spell — letters
  20. mark — a trace
  21. spell — magic
  22. mark — to pay attention
  23. degree — temperature
  24. dip — to sink

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