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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  7. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. The King held a masked ________________.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. My father caught me by the ________________.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  16. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  17. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. ball — a great time
  3. clip — a video
  4. kid — to tease
  5. degree — from a university
  6. bass — the fish
  7. craft — boats
  8. race — humankind
  9. clip — for paper
  10. ball — a dance
  11. race — the arms race
  12. degree — an amount
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. bass — low music
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. craft — a handicraft
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. arm — a part of something
  20. race — a contest
  21. craft — a skill
  22. clip — to cut
  23. degree — temperature
  24. bass — the instrument

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