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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: chest · race · ball · bound · racket · band · degree · clip

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. That was ________________ to happen.
  20. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. clip — a video
  4. racket — a loud noise
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. band — a music group
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. ball — a dance
  9. clip — for paper
  10. degree — temperature
  11. chest — a box
  12. bound — obliged
  13. degree — from a university
  14. degree — an amount
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. race — humankind
  17. band — a ring
  18. race — the arms race
  19. bound — certain
  20. bound — tied together
  21. chest — of your body
  22. ball — a great time
  23. race — a contest
  24. chest — of your body

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