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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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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: calf · field · club · clip · track · degree · rest · shower

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  14. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  17. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. rest — what's left
  3. degree — an amount
  4. clip — to cut
  5. club — for dancing
  6. shower — rain
  7. club — a group
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. club — for golf
  10. clip — a video
  11. rest — a break
  12. shower — to wash
  13. track — to keep track
  14. calf — a young animal
  15. field — for sport
  16. track — a path
  17. calf — a young animal
  18. field — a subject
  19. rest — what's left
  20. clip — for paper
  21. track — a song
  22. field — farmland
  23. calf — of the leg
  24. degree — temperature

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