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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: degree · saw · rush · ball · clip · drill · hand · mate

  1. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  7. Have you found your soul ________________?
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. That must've been a ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. She's very handy with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. ball — a dance
  3. clip — to cut
  4. degree — from a university
  5. drill — a practice
  6. rush — to hurry
  7. mate — a partner
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. hand — in cards
  10. rush — a thrill
  11. clip — a video
  12. mate — to breed
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. degree — temperature
  15. ball — a great time
  16. saw — the tool
  17. hand — help
  18. saw — past of 'see'
  19. degree — an amount
  20. clip — for paper
  21. rush — hurry
  22. drill — the tool
  23. drill — army training
  24. saw — the tool

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