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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
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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: kick · hand · degree · tube · patient · clip

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  8. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  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 — help
  2. clip — for paper
  3. degree — an amount
  4. tube — the underground
  5. clip — to cut
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. kick — with a leg
  8. tube — a container
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. degree — from a university
  11. clip — a video
  12. kick — in football
  13. hand — in cards
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. patient — a sick person
  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