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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 · degree · cap · mark · wake · game · chest · land

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  8. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  14. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. wake — a trail
  3. degree — from a university
  4. degree — an amount
  5. game — wild animals
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. wake — to stop sleeping
  8. mark — to pay attention
  9. chest — of your body
  10. cap — a hat
  11. land — ground
  12. chest — of your body
  13. mark — a grade
  14. cap — a lid
  15. land — to come down
  16. mine — for digging
  17. chest — a box
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. mark — a trace
  20. degree — temperature
  21. cap — of ice
  22. game — a match
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. land — a country

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