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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 116 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
468
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: scale · dip · kick · clip · cold · degree · fan · saw

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  8. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  20. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. clip — for paper
  3. degree — an amount
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. dip — to sink
  6. scale — in music
  7. kick — in football
  8. dip — a sauce
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. clip — a video
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. saw — the tool
  13. cold — not warm
  14. clip — to cut
  15. degree — temperature
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. scale — size or range
  18. saw — the tool
  19. dip — to dunk
  20. fan — to cool the air
  21. degree — from a university
  22. cold — an illness
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. fan — a supporter

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