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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. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. I can't ________________ this cold.
  4. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  5. What do you think of the new ________________?
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  18. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  19. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  20. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  21. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  22. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. degree — temperature
  3. stand — to bear
  4. wake — to stop sleeping
  5. cabinet — ministers
  6. clip — for paper
  7. shower — to wash
  8. stand — for spectators
  9. degree — from a university
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. degree — an amount
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. clip — to cut
  14. wake — a trail
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cold — an illness
  17. vault — a safe
  18. vault — in gymnastics
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. cabinet — a cupboard
  21. stand — on your feet
  22. vault — an arched ceiling
  23. shower — rain
  24. clip — a video

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