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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 · clip · present · drill · ground · wind

  1. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. drill — a practice
  3. wind — moving air
  4. clip — to cut
  5. degree — from a university
  6. degree — temperature
  7. wind — moving air
  8. ground — crushed
  9. present — a gift
  10. drill — the tool
  11. present — there
  12. clip — a video
  13. ground — the earth
  14. clip — for paper
  15. ground — a position
  16. degree — an amount
  17. present — the time now
  18. drill — army training

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