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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: content · clip · kick · staff · racket · pit · row · degree

  1. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  17. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. kick — in football
  2. staff — employees
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. staff — a stick
  8. content — happy
  9. row — to paddle
  10. clip — for paper
  11. row — a line
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. content — the amount
  14. racket — a loud noise
  15. degree — an amount
  16. pit — a hole
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. clip — to cut
  19. pit — in a race
  20. clip — a video
  21. staff — employees
  22. degree — from a university
  23. degree — temperature
  24. pit — a fruit stone

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