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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: degree · bore · last · ruler · kid · content · rock · clip

  1. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  15. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. rock — music
  3. last — to go on
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. kid — to tease
  6. ruler — a monarch
  7. kid — child
  8. degree — an amount
  9. rock — to move gently
  10. clip — to cut
  11. bore — to drill
  12. content — the amount
  13. clip — a video
  14. bore — gave birth
  15. bore — to tire
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. ruler — for measuring
  18. content — happy
  19. last — final
  20. rock — a stone
  21. degree — from a university
  22. ruler — for measuring
  23. degree — temperature
  24. clip — for paper

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