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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: wound · clip · nail · toast · degree · mate · cold · temple

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  8. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  13. Have you found your soul ________________?
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  21. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  24. When was this ________________ built?

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. toast — the most admired
  3. cold — not warm
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. temple — a place of worship
  6. degree — temperature
  7. mate — to breed
  8. mate — a friend
  9. degree — from a university
  10. wound — an injury
  11. clip — for paper
  12. temple — side of the head
  13. mate — a partner
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. clip — to cut
  17. wound — an injury
  18. nail — on a finger
  19. degree — an amount
  20. toast — bread
  21. toast — a drink to someone
  22. cold — an illness
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. temple — a place of worship

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