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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
468
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 · rule · stem · clip · staff · file

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  12. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. stem — to come from
  3. file — a document
  4. staff — employees
  5. clip — a video
  6. staff — a stick
  7. rule — a law
  8. degree — from a university
  9. degree — temperature
  10. file — a tool
  11. stem — a stem cell
  12. rule — to rule out
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. file — a line of people
  15. staff — employees
  16. rule — government
  17. clip — for paper
  18. clip — to cut

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