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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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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: tube · degree · staff · wound · clip · wind · race · face

  1. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  18. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. tube — the underground
  4. degree — an amount
  5. staff — employees
  6. wound — an injury
  7. tube — a container
  8. face — part of the head
  9. clip — for paper
  10. race — humankind
  11. degree — from a university
  12. face — to confront
  13. clip — to cut
  14. wind — moving air
  15. clip — a video
  16. race — the arms race
  17. face — to point toward
  18. staff — a stick
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. race — a contest
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. degree — temperature
  23. wound — an injury
  24. wind — moving air

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