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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: pop · degree · clip · kid · march · fall · fine · snap

  1. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  23. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. kid — to tease
  3. pop — soda
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. march — the month
  6. kid — child
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. degree — an amount
  9. fine — a penalty
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. fall — to drop
  12. fall — to drop
  13. march — music
  14. snap — to click
  15. clip — to cut
  16. clip — for paper
  17. degree — from a university
  18. fine — all right
  19. march — the month
  20. degree — temperature
  21. clip — a video
  22. pop — music
  23. fine — high quality
  24. fall — the season

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