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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: foot · clip · spring · degree · wind · club · sharp · pound

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  19. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  22. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. clip — a video
  3. degree — from a university
  4. foot — part of the body
  5. spring — a coil
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. pound — for dogs
  8. spring — of water
  9. club — for dancing
  10. clip — for paper
  11. spring — the season
  12. clip — to cut
  13. club — a group
  14. sharp — clever
  15. wind — moving air
  16. foot — the bottom
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. foot — a measure
  19. club — for golf
  20. degree — temperature
  21. pound — to hit hard
  22. pound — a weight
  23. wind — moving air
  24. sharp — exactly

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