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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: can · chest · clip · spring · degree · bound · cap · shower

  1. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  8. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. That was ________________ to happen.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  21. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  22. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  23. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — tied together
  2. shower — rain
  3. spring — the season
  4. shower — to wash
  5. degree — from a university
  6. degree — an amount
  7. can — a tin
  8. cap — a lid
  9. clip — for paper
  10. chest — of your body
  11. bound — certain
  12. clip — to cut
  13. spring — of water
  14. spring — a coil
  15. clip — a video
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. degree — temperature
  18. bound — obliged
  19. chest — of your body
  20. can — to be able to
  21. cap — of ice
  22. cap — a hat
  23. can — a tin
  24. chest — a box

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