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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 116 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: spring · trunk · degree · kick · stem · row · clip · bore

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  17. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  18. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. kick — in football
  4. spring — a coil
  5. degree — temperature
  6. row — to paddle
  7. clip — a video
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. stem — of a plant
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. clip — for paper
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. stem — to come from
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. row — a line
  16. bore — gave birth
  17. bore — to tire
  18. bore — to drill
  19. clip — to cut
  20. spring — the season
  21. spring — of water
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. degree — an amount
  24. stem — a stem cell

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