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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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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: kick · clip · kid · chest · degree · mark · jam · club

  1. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  3. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  9. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  10. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  11. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  21. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  22. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  23. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. club — a group
  3. jam — to spread on bread
  4. degree — from a university
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. kid — to tease
  7. chest — of your body
  8. mark — a trace
  9. kick — in football
  10. jam — a tight spot
  11. club — for golf
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. clip — to cut
  14. clip — a video
  15. clip — for paper
  16. degree — an amount
  17. degree — temperature
  18. mark — to pay attention
  19. chest — of your body
  20. jam — in traffic
  21. mark — a grade
  22. kick — a thrill
  23. club — for dancing
  24. kid — child

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