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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 120 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: clip · pop · leaves · bear · cell · degree · straw · present

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  8. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  9. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. We're almost out of ________________.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. You don't need to ________________ round.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  23. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  24. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. present — there
  3. clip — a video
  4. bear — to put up with
  5. degree — from a university
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. bear — the animal
  8. leaves — of a tree
  9. present — the time now
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. pop — music
  12. clip — for paper
  13. degree — temperature
  14. cell — in biology
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. pop — soda
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. pop — to visit
  19. cell — a phone
  20. bear — the animal
  21. degree — an amount
  22. leaves — to go away
  23. leaves — lets stay
  24. present — a gift

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