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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: land · bulb · rush · degree · wound · straw · wave · mine

  1. The light ________________ burned out.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. I've got to change the light ________________.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. That must've been a ________________.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — for light
  2. rush — hurry
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. wave — with your hand
  5. degree — temperature
  6. bulb — for light
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. wave — a sudden rise
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. degree — an amount
  11. bulb — of a plant
  12. land — ground
  13. wave — of the sea
  14. mine — for digging
  15. rush — a thrill
  16. land — to come down
  17. degree — from a university
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. wound — an injury
  21. rush — to hurry
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. land — a country
  24. wound — an injury

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