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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 am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  14. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. clip — a video
  3. drill — a practice
  4. tear — from crying
  5. net — for catching
  6. degree — from a university
  7. degree — temperature
  8. tear — from crying
  9. drill — the tool
  10. bat — the animal
  11. pitch — completely
  12. clip — to cut
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. pitch — a sales talk
  15. tear — to rip
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. net — in sport
  19. degree — an amount
  20. net — after costs
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. fan — to cool the air
  23. clip — for paper
  24. drill — army training

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