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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: bowl · clip · fine · track · rush · degree · cell · perch

  1. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. That must've been a ________________.
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  11. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  12. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  21. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. rush — a thrill
  3. track — a path
  4. fine — all right
  5. degree — an amount
  6. degree — from a university
  7. fine — high quality
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. degree — temperature
  10. bowl — a dish
  11. rush — to hurry
  12. bowl — a football final
  13. track — a song
  14. track — to keep track
  15. cell — a phone
  16. clip — to cut
  17. fine — a penalty
  18. clip — a video
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. bowl — to roll
  21. rush — hurry
  22. clip — for paper
  23. perch — the fish
  24. cell — in biology

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