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

Word bank: band · file · kid · racket · degree · pound

  1. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. pound — for dogs
  2. degree — from a university
  3. band — a ring
  4. kid — child
  5. file — a line of people
  6. pound — a weight
  7. kid — to tease
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. file — a tool
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. pound — to hit hard
  12. band — a music group
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. file — a document
  16. degree — temperature
  17. racket — a loud noise
  18. degree — an amount

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