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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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  4. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  5. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  6. This piece is in a major ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  13. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  20. The ________________ went through the wall.
  21. That was ________________ to happen.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. bat — the animal
  3. bound — tied together
  4. rule — a law
  5. key — the most important part
  6. key — in music
  7. clip — for paper
  8. degree — an amount
  9. clip — to cut
  10. swing — music
  11. swing — in golf
  12. key — for a lock
  13. nail — on a finger
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. degree — from a university
  16. rule — government
  17. bound — obliged
  18. degree — temperature
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. bound — certain
  22. clip — a video
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. bat — in an idiom

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