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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. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  14. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. Have you found your soul ________________?
  19. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  20. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  24. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — a drink to someone
  2. degree — an amount
  3. kid — child
  4. degree — temperature
  5. degree — from a university
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. clip — for paper
  8. dip — to sink
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. game — a match
  11. clip — a video
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. mate — a friend
  14. dip — a sauce
  15. clip — to cut
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. kid — to tease
  18. mate — a partner
  19. toast — bread
  20. mate — to breed
  21. game — wild animals
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. toast — the most admired
  24. dip — to dunk

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