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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 120 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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. degree — from a university
  3. band — a ring
  4. lash — to lash out
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. degree — an amount
  7. kid — child
  8. lash — an eyelash
  9. kid — to tease
  10. degree — temperature
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. dip — to sink
  14. drill — a practice
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. drill — the tool
  17. wind — moving air
  18. dip — to dunk
  19. wind — moving air
  20. dip — a sauce
  21. drill — army training
  22. lash — a whip stroke
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. wake — a trail

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