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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: fork · degree · hand · staff · shower · present · saw · land

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  9. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. staff — a stick
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. land — ground
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. land — to come down
  8. fork — in a road
  9. present — the time now
  10. degree — temperature
  11. saw — the tool
  12. saw — the tool
  13. present — there
  14. shower — rain
  15. hand — in cards
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. staff — employees
  19. degree — an amount
  20. hand — help
  21. staff — employees
  22. degree — from a university
  23. shower — to wash
  24. present — a gift

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