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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: cold · fine · degree · pound · clip · cue · bound · rest

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  3. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  4. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  5. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  8. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  11. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  12. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. That was ________________ to happen.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  22. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  23. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. fine — a penalty
  3. rest — what's left
  4. cue — a hint
  5. rest — what's left
  6. clip — to cut
  7. fine — high quality
  8. pound — for dogs
  9. degree — an amount
  10. bound — tied together
  11. cue — for pool
  12. fine — all right
  13. degree — temperature
  14. pound — to hit hard
  15. degree — from a university
  16. bound — certain
  17. clip — a video
  18. rest — a break
  19. cold — not warm
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. pound — a weight
  22. cue — a signal
  23. bound — obliged
  24. cold — an illness

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