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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: rush · rock · bat · degree · clip · bore · track · row

  1. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  5. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. That must've been a ________________.
  10. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  20. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  21. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. bore — to tire
  3. degree — from a university
  4. bore — to drill
  5. rock — to move gently
  6. clip — for paper
  7. rush — to hurry
  8. degree — an amount
  9. rush — a thrill
  10. rush — hurry
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. track — to keep track
  13. track — a song
  14. row — a line
  15. track — a path
  16. clip — a video
  17. row — to paddle
  18. degree — temperature
  19. rock — a stone
  20. rock — music
  21. bore — gave birth
  22. bat — the animal
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. clip — to cut

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