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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.

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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: fork · drill · arm · pound · band · degree · fan · clip

  1. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  9. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  10. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. My father caught me by the ________________.
  17. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  18. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  19. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. arm — a part of something
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. degree — from a university
  4. fork — in a road
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. clip — for paper
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. pound — to hit hard
  9. fan — to cool the air
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. band — a ring
  12. degree — an amount
  13. clip — to cut
  14. drill — army training
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. pound — a weight
  18. pound — for dogs
  19. fork — a garden tool
  20. drill — a practice
  21. band — a music group
  22. drill — the tool
  23. degree — temperature
  24. clip — a video

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