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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: mate · tear · wound · bowl · chip · clip · degree · band

  1. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  2. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  16. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  20. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  21. Have you found your soul ________________?
  22. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. bowl — a dish
  3. band — a music group
  4. clip — a video
  5. wound — an injury
  6. degree — temperature
  7. tear — from crying
  8. chip — for betting
  9. clip — to cut
  10. degree — an amount
  11. tear — to rip
  12. wound — an injury
  13. degree — from a university
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. bowl — a football final
  16. chip — to eat
  17. clip — for paper
  18. band — a ring
  19. chip — in a computer
  20. mate — to breed
  21. mate — a partner
  22. bowl — to roll
  23. tear — from crying
  24. band — a rubber band

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