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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 120 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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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 · chair · snap · field · safe · degree · tear · shower

  1. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. shower — to wash
  3. clip — a video
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. safe — out of danger
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. clip — for paper
  9. snap — to click
  10. tear — from crying
  11. field — a subject
  12. tear — to rip
  13. degree — an amount
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. chair — a leader
  16. safe — a strongbox
  17. shower — rain
  18. clip — to cut
  19. degree — from a university
  20. field — for sport
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. safe — out of danger
  23. field — farmland
  24. tear — from crying

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