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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: clip · ground · degree · dip · drill · bear · stock · file

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  13. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. stock — goods
  3. degree — from a university
  4. ground — a position
  5. dip — a sauce
  6. drill — a practice
  7. stock — shares
  8. file — a document
  9. drill — the tool
  10. bear — to put up with
  11. drill — army training
  12. dip — to sink
  13. dip — to dunk
  14. degree — temperature
  15. clip — for paper
  16. file — a tool
  17. degree — an amount
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. ground — crushed
  20. bear — the animal
  21. ground — the earth
  22. file — a line of people
  23. bear — the animal
  24. clip — to cut

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