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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: pass · clip · chair · file · coach · degree · court · shower

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  7. Have you met the new head ________________?
  8. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. pass — to succeed
  4. clip — to cut
  5. shower — to wash
  6. pass — to spend time
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. coach — pulled by horses
  9. shower — rain
  10. degree — temperature
  11. court — for sport
  12. file — a line of people
  13. court — of law
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. court — of a king
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. pass — a permit
  18. chair — a leader
  19. file — a tool
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. clip — for paper
  22. file — a document
  23. degree — from a university
  24. clip — a video

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