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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. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  8. The light ________________ burned out.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. I've got to change the light ________________.
  12. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  15. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  20. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. firm — decided
  3. hand — in cards
  4. degree — from a university
  5. spring — a coil
  6. hand — help
  7. bulb — of a plant
  8. bulb — for light
  9. clip — to cut
  10. shower — to wash
  11. bulb — for light
  12. bore — gave birth
  13. degree — an amount
  14. firm — a company
  15. bore — to drill
  16. clip — for paper
  17. spring — of water
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. firm — steady
  20. bore — to tire
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. shower — rain
  23. degree — temperature
  24. spring — the season

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