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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: lash · fine · date · cold · root · degree · clip · mine

  1. Have you settled on a ________________?
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  11. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  12. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  15. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  16. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  17. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  18. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. cold — not warm
  3. degree — an amount
  4. degree — from a university
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. mine — for digging
  7. fine — a penalty
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. degree — temperature
  10. root — of a word
  11. lash — to lash out
  12. fine — high quality
  13. clip — to cut
  14. lash — an eyelash
  15. root — the cause
  16. fine — all right
  17. root — of a plant
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. clip — for paper
  20. lash — a whip stroke
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. cold — an illness
  23. clip — a video
  24. date — the fruit

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