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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: land · rule · cell · wave · spring · degree · board · arm

  1. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  2. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  9. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  10. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  15. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. My father caught me by the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — a law
  2. wave — of the sea
  3. land — ground
  4. land — a country
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. arm — a part of something
  7. spring — the season
  8. rule — government
  9. board — a committee
  10. board — a flat piece
  11. cell — in biology
  12. wave — a sudden rise
  13. degree — an amount
  14. board — to get on
  15. wave — with your hand
  16. degree — temperature
  17. cell — a phone
  18. rule — to rule out
  19. land — to come down
  20. degree — from a university
  21. spring — a coil
  22. spring — of water
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. arm — part of the body

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