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

  1. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  7. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  8. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. degree — from a university
  3. band — a music group
  4. lash — to lash out
  5. band — a ring
  6. foot — a measure
  7. lash — an eyelash
  8. foot — the bottom
  9. degree — an amount
  10. clip — for paper
  11. lash — a whip stroke
  12. clip — a video
  13. clip — to cut
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. foot — part of the body
  16. hand — in cards
  17. hand — help
  18. degree — temperature

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