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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 116 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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: staff · racket · mate · clip · pass · spring · degree · capital

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  10. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  19. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  20. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  21. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. mate — a partner
  3. pass — to succeed
  4. clip — for paper
  5. mate — a friend
  6. capital — a city
  7. staff — employees
  8. spring — the season
  9. mate — to breed
  10. staff — a stick
  11. degree — an amount
  12. racket — a loud noise
  13. spring — of water
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. spring — a coil
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. capital — money
  18. staff — employees
  19. pass — a permit
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. pass — to spend time
  22. clip — a video
  23. degree — temperature
  24. clip — to cut

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