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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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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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  21. My mare is ________________ in color.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. band — a ring
  3. band — a music group
  4. bay — a part of the sea
  5. file — a tool
  6. degree — an amount
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. bat — the animal
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. bowl — to roll
  12. degree — from a university
  13. wind — moving air
  14. bowl — a football final
  15. file — a line of people
  16. bowl — a dish
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. hand — in cards
  20. bay — to keep at bay
  21. bay — a horse colour
  22. wind — moving air
  23. hand — help
  24. file — a document

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