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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: swing · mate · degree · cell · rest · clip

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  15. Have you found your soul ________________?
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. swing — to play on
  3. mate — a friend
  4. cell — in biology
  5. clip — for paper
  6. cell — a phone
  7. swing — in golf
  8. rest — what's left
  9. swing — music
  10. rest — what's left
  11. clip — a video
  12. mate — to breed
  13. degree — temperature
  14. rest — a break
  15. mate — a partner
  16. clip — to cut
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. degree — an amount

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