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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: sharp · rash · hand · rule · degree · net · clip · race

  1. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  2. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. net — for catching
  2. rule — a law
  3. race — a contest
  4. clip — a video
  5. sharp — clever
  6. net — after costs
  7. degree — from a university
  8. hand — in cards
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. clip — to cut
  11. rule — government
  12. clip — for paper
  13. sharp — with an edge
  14. degree — temperature
  15. rule — to rule out
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. race — humankind
  18. race — the arms race
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. rash — hasty
  21. hand — help
  22. degree — an amount
  23. net — in sport
  24. rash — a series

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