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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 120 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. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. What do you think of the new ________________?
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — the arms race
  2. degree — an amount
  3. rash — hasty
  4. clip — to cut
  5. race — a contest
  6. rash — a series
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. degree — temperature
  9. snap — to click
  10. clip — a video
  11. cabinet — ministers
  12. race — humankind
  13. cabinet — ministers
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. clip — for paper
  16. perch — the fish
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. wake — to stop sleeping
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. degree — from a university
  23. wake — a trail
  24. cabinet — a cupboard

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