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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: ground · date · stem · clip · shower · snap · nail · degree

  1. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Have you settled on a ________________?
  5. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. The ________________ went through the wall.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — for a hammer
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. clip — for paper
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. date — the fruit
  6. clip — to cut
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. degree — an amount
  9. clip — a video
  10. ground — crushed
  11. shower — to wash
  12. degree — from a university
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. nail — on a finger
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. ground — a position
  20. shower — rain
  21. snap — to click
  22. degree — temperature
  23. stem — to come from
  24. ground — the earth

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