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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. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  10. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  11. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. degree — temperature
  3. wind — moving air
  4. rock — a stone
  5. cold — not warm
  6. degree — from a university
  7. ground — a position
  8. ground — the earth
  9. bear — the animal
  10. bear — the animal
  11. rock — music
  12. clip — for paper
  13. track — a path
  14. clip — a video
  15. wind — moving air
  16. rock — to move gently
  17. cold — an illness
  18. clip — to cut
  19. track — to keep track
  20. ground — crushed
  21. bear — to put up with
  22. degree — an amount
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. track — a song

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