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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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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 · clip · wind · band · kick · field · nail · firm

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. The ________________ went through the wall.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  18. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  19. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  24. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. field — for sport
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. degree — from a university
  5. degree — temperature
  6. degree — an amount
  7. clip — for paper
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. field — a subject
  10. firm — decided
  11. clip — a video
  12. wind — moving air
  13. band — a ring
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. firm — steady
  16. kick — in football
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. nail — on a finger
  19. kick — with a leg
  20. wind — moving air
  21. clip — to cut
  22. band — a music group
  23. kick — a thrill
  24. firm — a company

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