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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 · degree · straw · tube · race · clip · fan · bowl

  1. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  10. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. clip — for paper
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. race — humankind
  5. wound — an injury
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. clip — to cut
  9. bowl — a dish
  10. tube — in a tire
  11. wound — an injury
  12. degree — from a university
  13. bowl — to roll
  14. race — a contest
  15. clip — a video
  16. race — the arms race
  17. tube — the underground
  18. bowl — a football final
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. tube — a container
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. fan — to cool the air
  23. degree — temperature
  24. degree — an amount

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