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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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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: mine · drill · wind · land · degree · stock

  1. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — a practice
  2. wind — moving air
  3. stock — goods
  4. land — to come down
  5. wind — moving air
  6. land — ground
  7. stock — shares
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. degree — an amount
  10. degree — from a university
  11. mine — for digging
  12. degree — temperature
  13. land — a country
  14. drill — army training
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. drill — the tool
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. mine — an explosive

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