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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 · land · bore · clip · cell · face · stock · hand

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. bore — gave birth
  3. clip — a video
  4. face — to confront
  5. degree — from a university
  6. bore — to tire
  7. cell — in biology
  8. face — to point toward
  9. degree — temperature
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. stock — goods
  12. hand — in cards
  13. land — a country
  14. land — ground
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. stock — shares
  17. face — part of the head
  18. clip — for paper
  19. land — to come down
  20. hand — help
  21. degree — an amount
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. clip — to cut
  24. bore — to drill

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