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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: march · clip · racket · rash · kid · degree · key · net

  1. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  19. This piece is in a major ________________.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  24. Don't do anything ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — a loud noise
  2. degree — an amount
  3. key — the most important part
  4. march — the month
  5. net — in sport
  6. march — music
  7. march — the month
  8. clip — to cut
  9. rash — a series
  10. net — after costs
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. kid — child
  14. net — for catching
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. clip — a video
  17. degree — temperature
  18. racket — for tennis
  19. key — in music
  20. degree — from a university
  21. kid — to tease
  22. clip — for paper
  23. key — for a lock
  24. rash — hasty

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