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

Word bank: bay · degree · temple · charge · content · tear · clip · race

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  6. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. When was this ________________ built?
  11. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  16. My mare is ________________ in color.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. The tickets are free of ________________.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. race — a contest
  3. bay — to keep at bay
  4. clip — a video
  5. charge — electricity
  6. bay — a part of the sea
  7. tear — from crying
  8. tear — to rip
  9. degree — an amount
  10. temple — a place of worship
  11. temple — side of the head
  12. degree — from a university
  13. race — humankind
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. temple — a place of worship
  16. bay — a horse colour
  17. clip — to cut
  18. content — the amount
  19. charge — in control
  20. clip — for paper
  21. race — the arms race
  22. charge — a price
  23. degree — temperature
  24. tear — from crying

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