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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: chip · deal · clip · degree · file · band · ball · fine

  1. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  5. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  19. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  22. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — a big deal
  2. ball — a dance
  3. band — a music group
  4. chip — for betting
  5. fine — a penalty
  6. file — a document
  7. ball — a great time
  8. clip — a video
  9. file — a line of people
  10. chip — to eat
  11. degree — an amount
  12. degree — from a university
  13. file — a tool
  14. fine — all right
  15. clip — to cut
  16. chip — in a computer
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. ball — a round shape
  19. fine — high quality
  20. clip — for paper
  21. deal — to handle
  22. deal — an agreement
  23. degree — temperature
  24. band — a ring

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