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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: degree · cell · board · pop · bat · clip · pound · hand

  1. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  14. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. pound — a weight
  3. hand — in cards
  4. pop — to visit
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. degree — from a university
  7. board — a committee
  8. cell — a phone
  9. degree — an amount
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. pop — soda
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. board — to get on
  14. pound — to hit hard
  15. clip — for paper
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. hand — help
  18. clip — a video
  19. board — a flat piece
  20. cell — in biology
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. clip — to cut
  23. bat — the animal
  24. pop — music

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