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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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: mate · game · plane · arm · degree · field · clip · swing

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  7. My father caught me by the ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  10. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  11. The ________________ took off on time.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  20. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. clip — to cut
  3. mate — a partner
  4. degree — from a university
  5. field — farmland
  6. swing — music
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. clip — for paper
  9. plane — a tool
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. plane — an aircraft
  12. swing — to play on
  13. game — wild animals
  14. field — a subject
  15. arm — a part of something
  16. game — a match
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. field — for sport
  19. mate — to breed
  20. plane — in geometry
  21. clip — a video
  22. swing — in golf
  23. degree — temperature
  24. mate — a friend

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