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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 · dip · file · degree · band · staff · key · spring

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. This piece is in a major ________________.
  6. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  7. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  8. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  21. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. file — a tool
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. spring — a coil
  5. key — in music
  6. staff — employees
  7. staff — a stick
  8. staff — employees
  9. degree — an amount
  10. band — a ring
  11. file — a line of people
  12. band — a music group
  13. degree — from a university
  14. degree — temperature
  15. dip — to dunk
  16. land — to come down
  17. file — a document
  18. land — ground
  19. spring — of water
  20. dip — a sauce
  21. key — the most important part
  22. spring — the season
  23. key — for a lock
  24. dip — to sink

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