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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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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: cold · root · shower · degree · clip · board · tear · coach

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  3. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  13. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. root — of a word
  3. coach — pulled by horses
  4. cold — an illness
  5. shower — rain
  6. degree — from a university
  7. tear — from crying
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. root — of a plant
  10. degree — an amount
  11. cold — not warm
  12. root — the cause
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. tear — from crying
  17. board — a committee
  18. degree — temperature
  19. clip — for paper
  20. shower — to wash
  21. tear — to rip
  22. board — a flat piece
  23. clip — a video
  24. board — to get on

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