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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: spell · clip · cell · degree · straw · stick

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. spell — letters
  4. degree — from a university
  5. stick — to attach or keep to
  6. clip — to cut
  7. degree — temperature
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. cell — a phone
  11. clip — for paper
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. degree — an amount
  14. spell — a short time
  15. cell — in biology
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. spell — magic
  18. clip — a video

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