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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: lie · degree · mouse · cold · rest · deal · clip · sharp

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  3. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  6. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  7. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  14. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  15. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  21. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  22. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. rest — a break
  3. lie — to recline
  4. degree — from a university
  5. deal — to handle
  6. mouse — the animal
  7. mouse — for a computer
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. sharp — clever
  10. clip — to cut
  11. clip — a video
  12. cold — not warm
  13. lie — an untruth
  14. rest — what's left
  15. rest — what's left
  16. clip — for paper
  17. deal — an agreement
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. degree — temperature
  20. deal — a big deal
  21. lie — an untruth
  22. mouse — the animal
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. degree — an amount

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