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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. clip — for paper
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. degree — from a university
  5. degree — temperature
  6. bass — low music
  7. clip — to cut
  8. root — of a plant
  9. ground — a position
  10. ground — crushed
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. ground — the earth
  13. clip — a video
  14. pop — soda
  15. hand — in cards
  16. root — of a word
  17. pop — to visit
  18. pop — music
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. bass — the fish
  21. degree — an amount
  22. hand — help
  23. root — the cause
  24. hand — part of the body

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