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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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468
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: branch · cue · clip · kick · bat · bass · hide · degree

  1. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  12. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  13. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  14. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  15. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  24. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the fish
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. branch — a division
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. clip — for paper
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. bat — the animal
  8. cue — a hint
  9. degree — from a university
  10. degree — an amount
  11. cue — a signal
  12. hide — animal skin
  13. cue — for pool
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. bass — low music
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. clip — to cut
  19. degree — temperature
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. clip — a video
  22. kick — in football
  23. bass — the instrument
  24. branch — of a bank

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