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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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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: cell · degree · hand · tear · chair · pop · rest · clip

  1. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. You don't need to ________________ round.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  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. cell — in a prison
  2. clip — a video
  3. rest — a break
  4. clip — for paper
  5. degree — from a university
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. tear — to rip
  8. tear — from crying
  9. hand — in cards
  10. hand — help
  11. pop — soda
  12. cell — in biology
  13. rest — what's left
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. clip — to cut
  16. pop — music
  17. cell — a phone
  18. chair — a leader
  19. rest — what's left
  20. degree — temperature
  21. pop — to visit
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. tear — from crying
  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