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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 120 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: kick · bank · degree · bowl · clip · wound · field · snap

  1. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  15. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. degree — from a university
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. bowl — to roll
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. degree — temperature
  7. kick — with a leg
  8. snap — to click
  9. bowl — a dish
  10. clip — for paper
  11. field — a subject
  12. field — farmland
  13. clip — to cut
  14. bank — for money
  15. bowl — a football final
  16. field — for sport
  17. bank — for money
  18. clip — a video
  19. bank — of a river
  20. degree — an amount
  21. wound — an injury
  22. kick — in football
  23. wound — an injury
  24. kick — a thrill

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