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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: cold · net · land · clip · toast · temple · degree · object

  1. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  4. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  5. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  6. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. When was this ________________ built?
  12. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  16. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. degree — an amount
  3. object — an aim
  4. toast — a drink to someone
  5. temple — a place of worship
  6. object — to protest
  7. clip — for paper
  8. degree — from a university
  9. land — a country
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. toast — the most admired
  13. net — for catching
  14. clip — to cut
  15. toast — bread
  16. object — a thing
  17. degree — temperature
  18. cold — not warm
  19. land — to come down
  20. net — after costs
  21. clip — a video
  22. land — ground
  23. cold — an illness
  24. temple — side of the head

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