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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: clip · mine · degree · bulb · present · bank · cap · kid

  1. I've got to change the light ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  9. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  10. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  20. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. The light ________________ burned out.
  23. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  24. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — for light
  2. degree — from a university
  3. present — a gift
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. cap — of ice
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. kid — to tease
  8. present — the time now
  9. cap — a lid
  10. present — there
  11. clip — for paper
  12. mine — for digging
  13. bank — for money
  14. clip — to cut
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. clip — a video
  17. degree — temperature
  18. degree — an amount
  19. bulb — of a plant
  20. cap — a hat
  21. kid — child
  22. bulb — for light
  23. bank — for money
  24. bank — of a river

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