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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: bowl · sharp · degree · clip · bat · fall · kick · scale

  1. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  7. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  20. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. clip — a video
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. fall — to drop
  6. bowl — a dish
  7. kick — in football
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. degree — from a university
  10. sharp — clever
  11. scale — in music
  12. scale — size or range
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. degree — an amount
  15. degree — temperature
  16. fall — to drop
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. bat — the animal
  19. scale — for weighing
  20. bowl — a football final
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. clip — for paper
  23. fall — the season
  24. clip — to cut

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