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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: degree · roll · clip · court · prune · spell · track · rule

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. We're on a ________________ here.
  13. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  14. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. court — of law
  3. clip — a video
  4. spell — letters
  5. roll — a list
  6. clip — for paper
  7. court — for sport
  8. prune — to trim
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. track — a path
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. roll — on a roll
  13. rule — a law
  14. roll — a cake
  15. rule — government
  16. court — of a king
  17. spell — magic
  18. degree — from a university
  19. spell — a short time
  20. track — a song
  21. prune — to trim
  22. clip — to cut
  23. track — to keep track
  24. degree — temperature

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