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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: rock · degree · mate · race · cell · land · wave · lie

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  3. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  14. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  17. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  18. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. I don't want to ________________ the boat.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. wave — of the sea
  3. lie — to recline
  4. race — a contest
  5. lie — an untruth
  6. land — ground
  7. wave — with your hand
  8. mate — a partner
  9. wave — a sudden rise
  10. cell — a phone
  11. degree — an amount
  12. land — to come down
  13. mate — to breed
  14. rock — music
  15. race — the arms race
  16. rock — a stone
  17. mate — a friend
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. race — humankind
  20. degree — temperature
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. degree — from a university
  23. cell — in biology
  24. rock — to move gently

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