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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. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. What do you think of the new ________________?
  10. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  17. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  18. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  19. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  20. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. chest — a box
  3. squash — the sport
  4. clip — to cut
  5. degree — from a university
  6. clip — a video
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. mate — a partner
  9. cabinet — ministers
  10. squash — to crush
  11. chest — of your body
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. degree — temperature
  15. chest — of your body
  16. mate — to breed
  17. racket — a loud noise
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. cabinet — a cupboard
  20. mate — a friend
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. clip — for paper
  23. racket — for tennis
  24. degree — an amount

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