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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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 · mine · hand · last · cap · clip · mate · racket

  1. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. Have you found your soul ________________?
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  19. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. cap — of ice
  3. cap — a hat
  4. clip — a video
  5. degree — from a university
  6. degree — temperature
  7. racket — a loud noise
  8. last — final
  9. mate — a partner
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. hand — in cards
  14. last — to go on
  15. degree — an amount
  16. last — finally
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. mate — a friend
  19. cap — a lid
  20. clip — to cut
  21. hand — help
  22. clip — for paper
  23. mate — to breed
  24. mine — for digging

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