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

Word bank: bat · wake · degree · clip · cell · spell · cold · stick

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  5. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  6. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. How do you ________________ your surname?
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. stick — to attach or keep to
  5. stick — a piece of wood
  6. wake — to stop sleeping
  7. cell — a phone
  8. cell — in biology
  9. degree — from a university
  10. degree — temperature
  11. stick — a piece of wood
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. cold — not warm
  14. clip — for paper
  15. cold — an illness
  16. spell — magic
  17. clip — to cut
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. spell — a short time
  20. degree — an amount
  21. spell — letters
  22. bat — the animal
  23. wake — a trail
  24. cold — the Cold War

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