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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: pass · wind · clip · wave · degree · capital · scale · cell

  1. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  2. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — to succeed
  2. wave — with your hand
  3. degree — from a university
  4. clip — to cut
  5. clip — for paper
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. capital — money
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. wind — moving air
  12. wave — of the sea
  13. cell — a phone
  14. pass — a permit
  15. degree — an amount
  16. clip — a video
  17. pass — to spend time
  18. scale — in music
  19. degree — temperature
  20. capital — a city
  21. scale — size or range
  22. wind — moving air
  23. cell — in biology
  24. wave — a sudden rise

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