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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: row · last · kick · wind · degree · clip

  1. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. clip — a video
  3. degree — from a university
  4. row — a line
  5. row — to paddle
  6. wind — moving air
  7. wind — moving air
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. clip — to cut
  10. last — to go on
  11. degree — an amount
  12. clip — for paper
  13. degree — temperature
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. last — final
  16. kick — in football
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. kick — with a leg

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