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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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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  22. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. land — a country
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. mine — for digging
  6. land — ground
  7. degree — from a university
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. prune — to trim
  12. capital — money
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. wind — moving air
  15. wind — moving air
  16. board — to get on
  17. wake — a trail
  18. land — to come down
  19. degree — an amount
  20. prune — to trim
  21. board — a committee
  22. board — a flat piece
  23. capital — a city
  24. wind — to turn a key

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