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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: degree · lean · clip · mine · pound · bowl · band · prune

  1. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  3. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  4. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  5. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  24. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. bowl — a dish
  3. pound — for dogs
  4. lean — thin
  5. lean — to rest against
  6. clip — to cut
  7. degree — temperature
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. pound — to hit hard
  10. prune — to trim
  11. lean — to bend
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. degree — from a university
  15. bowl — a football final
  16. clip — for paper
  17. clip — a video
  18. prune — to trim
  19. band — a music group
  20. band — a ring
  21. mine — for digging
  22. degree — an amount
  23. bowl — to roll
  24. pound — a weight

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