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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: file · chest · ground · prune · arm · clip · mouse · degree

  1. My father caught me by the ________________.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  16. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. ground — crushed
  3. arm — a part of something
  4. degree — an amount
  5. chest — a box
  6. degree — temperature
  7. clip — a video
  8. mouse — the animal
  9. chest — of your body
  10. ground — a position
  11. file — a document
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. chest — of your body
  14. clip — to cut
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. mouse — for a computer
  17. prune — to trim
  18. clip — for paper
  19. ground — the earth
  20. file — a line of people
  21. file — a tool
  22. mouse — the animal
  23. prune — to trim
  24. degree — from a university

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