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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 had a strange look on her ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. David sat on the ________________.
  5. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. You don't need to ________________ round.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. face — part of the head
  2. clip — a video
  3. degree — temperature
  4. swing — to play on
  5. key — the most important part
  6. pop — music
  7. kid — to tease
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. cell — a phone
  10. swing — in golf
  11. degree — an amount
  12. face — to confront
  13. face — to point toward
  14. degree — from a university
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. key — for a lock
  17. pop — soda
  18. clip — to cut
  19. kid — child
  20. key — in music
  21. cell — in biology
  22. pop — to visit
  23. clip — for paper
  24. swing — music

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