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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: clip · kid · tube · degree · swing · toast · branch · mate

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  8. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  9. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  12. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. Have you found your soul ________________?
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. degree — an amount
  3. branch — of a tree
  4. degree — from a university
  5. clip — to cut
  6. clip — a video
  7. swing — music
  8. mate — to breed
  9. toast — the most admired
  10. swing — to play on
  11. tube — in a tire
  12. toast — a drink to someone
  13. tube — the underground
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. degree — temperature
  16. kid — child
  17. swing — in golf
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. mate — a partner
  20. tube — a container
  21. mate — a friend
  22. toast — bread
  23. branch — a division
  24. clip — for paper

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