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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. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  2. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  8. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  15. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  18. Have you settled on a ________________?
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  21. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — size or range
  2. dip — to dunk
  3. degree — an amount
  4. degree — temperature
  5. pit — a fruit stone
  6. date — the fruit
  7. pit — in a race
  8. mark — to pay attention
  9. cold — not warm
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. scale — in music
  12. clip — a video
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. pit — a hole
  15. mark — a trace
  16. degree — from a university
  17. mark — a grade
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. clip — to cut
  20. dip — to sink
  21. dip — a sauce
  22. cold — an illness
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. clip — for paper

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