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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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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 · rash · wind · fork · land · game · degree · perch

  1. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  5. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. Don't do anything ________________.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. wind — moving air
  3. game — a match
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. fork — to eat with
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. fork — in a road
  8. mine — for digging
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. land — ground
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. rash — a series
  13. fork — a garden tool
  14. degree — from a university
  15. land — a country
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. degree — temperature
  18. land — to come down
  19. game — wild animals
  20. degree — an amount
  21. rash — hasty
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. perch — the fish

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