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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.

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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: cold · degree · tear · clip · calf · court · chip · staff

  1. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  4. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  5. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  14. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  17. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. court — of a king
  3. staff — a stick
  4. calf — a young animal
  5. chip — to eat
  6. tear — from crying
  7. court — of law
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. clip — a video
  10. cold — not warm
  11. court — for sport
  12. cold — an illness
  13. staff — employees
  14. calf — of the leg
  15. tear — to rip
  16. chip — in a computer
  17. calf — a young animal
  18. clip — to cut
  19. tear — from crying
  20. clip — for paper
  21. staff — employees
  22. degree — an amount
  23. chip — for betting
  24. degree — from a university

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