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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  12. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  16. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  20. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  21. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. bore — to tire
  3. kid — child
  4. dip — a sauce
  5. clip — to cut
  6. kid — to tease
  7. degree — temperature
  8. spell — letters
  9. spell — a short time
  10. degree — an amount
  11. mark — a trace
  12. mark — to pay attention
  13. chest — of your body
  14. chest — of your body
  15. mark — a grade
  16. bore — to drill
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. degree — from a university
  19. bore — gave birth
  20. dip — to dunk
  21. dip — to sink
  22. chest — a box
  23. spell — magic
  24. clip — for paper

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