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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: board · band · straw · pitcher · degree · clip · sharp · hand

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  21. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. band — a music group
  4. hand — help
  5. band — a ring
  6. degree — temperature
  7. degree — from a university
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. clip — to cut
  10. degree — an amount
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. board — a committee
  14. clip — for paper
  15. hand — in cards
  16. board — a flat piece
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. board — to get on
  21. sharp — clever
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. sharp — with an edge

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