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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: degree · kid · game · firm · swing · clip · rash · pound

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  6. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  17. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  18. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  22. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. swing — to play on
  4. rash — hasty
  5. firm — steady
  6. pound — to hit hard
  7. degree — temperature
  8. clip — a video
  9. clip — for paper
  10. swing — in golf
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. game — wild animals
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. degree — from a university
  15. kid — to tease
  16. rash — a series
  17. firm — decided
  18. rash — on the skin
  19. swing — music
  20. clip — to cut
  21. pound — a weight
  22. firm — a company
  23. kid — child
  24. game — a match

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