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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: land · racket · sharp · mine · shower · clip · degree · jam

  1. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  2. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. jam — to spread on bread
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. degree — an amount
  4. clip — a video
  5. jam — in traffic
  6. shower — to wash
  7. degree — from a university
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. clip — to cut
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. shower — rain
  13. land — ground
  14. land — to come down
  15. sharp — clever
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. racket — a loud noise
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. mine — for digging
  20. clip — for paper
  21. jam — a tight spot
  22. land — a country
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. degree — temperature

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