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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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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: degree · lean · clip · mine · pound · bowl

  1. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  3. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  11. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. lean — to rest against
  3. bowl — to roll
  4. pound — a weight
  5. degree — temperature
  6. bowl — a football final
  7. clip — for paper
  8. degree — from a university
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. lean — to bend
  11. lean — thin
  12. mine — for digging
  13. pound — to hit hard
  14. clip — to cut
  15. clip — a video
  16. degree — an amount
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. mine — belonging to me

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