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

Word bank: bear · degree · chip · clip · bore · race

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  3. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  4. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. bear — to put up with
  3. chip — in a computer
  4. bore — to tire
  5. degree — an amount
  6. degree — temperature
  7. clip — a video
  8. clip — to cut
  9. race — a contest
  10. bear — the animal
  11. race — humankind
  12. bore — to drill
  13. bear — the animal
  14. clip — for paper
  15. bore — gave birth
  16. race — the arms race
  17. chip — to eat
  18. chip — for betting

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