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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: fork · clip · club · object · pound · rush · degree · key

  1. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  8. That must've been a ________________.
  9. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  17. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  18. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  19. This piece is in a major ________________.
  20. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  21. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  22. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. club — for dancing
  3. degree — an amount
  4. clip — to cut
  5. pound — for dogs
  6. clip — a video
  7. club — for golf
  8. rush — a thrill
  9. fork — to eat with
  10. degree — temperature
  11. object — to protest
  12. clip — for paper
  13. rush — to hurry
  14. fork — in a road
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. object — a thing
  17. pound — a weight
  18. key — the most important part
  19. key — in music
  20. key — for a lock
  21. rush — hurry
  22. club — a group
  23. degree — from a university
  24. object — an aim

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