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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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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: key · dip · clip · face · cold · fork · mouse · degree

  1. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  10. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  11. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. This piece is in a major ________________.
  24. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.

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

Answer key

  1. mouse — for a computer
  2. face — to confront
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. face — to point toward
  6. degree — from a university
  7. clip — a video
  8. face — part of the head
  9. dip — to dunk
  10. dip — a sauce
  11. key — the most important part
  12. clip — for paper
  13. cold — not warm
  14. mouse — the animal
  15. degree — an amount
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. cold — an illness
  18. dip — to sink
  19. degree — temperature
  20. key — for a lock
  21. fork — in a road
  22. clip — to cut
  23. key — in music
  24. mouse — the animal

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