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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 120 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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: dip · degree · field · clip · hand · cell · cabinet · face

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. What do you think of the new ________________?
  21. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  22. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. clip — a video
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. field — a subject
  6. degree — an amount
  7. hand — help
  8. field — for sport
  9. clip — for paper
  10. dip — a sauce
  11. face — to confront
  12. degree — from a university
  13. cell — in biology
  14. cabinet — a cupboard
  15. face — part of the head
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. degree — temperature
  18. face — to point toward
  19. field — farmland
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. dip — to dunk
  22. dip — to sink
  23. cell — a phone
  24. hand — in cards

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