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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: temple · cap · band · degree · toast · clip · mine · object

  1. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  11. When was this ________________ built?
  12. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  17. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  18. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  19. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  22. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. object — to protest
  2. band — a ring
  3. cap — a hat
  4. clip — to cut
  5. mine — for digging
  6. object — an aim
  7. band — a music group
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. temple — a place of worship
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. toast — bread
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. clip — a video
  15. degree — an amount
  16. cap — of ice
  17. toast — the most admired
  18. object — a thing
  19. toast — a drink to someone
  20. clip — for paper
  21. cap — a lid
  22. temple — side of the head
  23. degree — temperature
  24. degree — from a university

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