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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: clip · file · tear · foot · spring · key · coach · degree

  1. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. This piece is in a major ________________.
  11. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  18. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Have you met the new head ________________?
  21. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. foot — the bottom
  2. degree — from a university
  3. spring — the season
  4. clip — a video
  5. degree — temperature
  6. spring — of water
  7. key — the most important part
  8. file — a tool
  9. tear — to rip
  10. key — in music
  11. key — for a lock
  12. file — a line of people
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. clip — for paper
  15. spring — a coil
  16. degree — an amount
  17. coach — pulled by horses
  18. foot — part of the body
  19. clip — to cut
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. foot — a measure
  22. tear — from crying
  23. tear — from crying
  24. file — a document

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