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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: wound · face · rule · bass · degree · land · clip · toast

  1. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  12. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  19. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — bread
  2. clip — a video
  3. wound — an injury
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. bass — the fish
  6. face — to point toward
  7. clip — for paper
  8. face — part of the head
  9. degree — temperature
  10. degree — an amount
  11. rule — government
  12. toast — the most admired
  13. degree — from a university
  14. bass — low music
  15. toast — a drink to someone
  16. land — a country
  17. land — ground
  18. face — to confront
  19. rule — a law
  20. clip — to cut
  21. bass — the instrument
  22. wound — an injury
  23. land — to come down
  24. rule — to rule out

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