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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.

Words on the sheet
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: cue · hand · degree · nail · root · race · clip · fan

  1. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  2. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The ________________ went through the wall.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  15. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  16. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  24. Can you turn the ________________ on?

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

Answer key

  1. nail — on a finger
  2. cue — for pool
  3. degree — an amount
  4. degree — from a university
  5. hand — help
  6. cue — a hint
  7. clip — to cut
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. clip — a video
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. hand — in cards
  12. race — a contest
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. root — of a word
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. clip — for paper
  18. cue — a signal
  19. race — humankind
  20. race — the arms race
  21. root — the cause
  22. degree — temperature
  23. root — of a plant
  24. fan — to cool the air

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