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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 · key · fan · hand · degree · spring · pitch · wave

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  15. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  18. This piece is in a major ________________.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  21. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. wave — with your hand
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. land — ground
  7. spring — a coil
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. degree — from a university
  10. hand — in cards
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. hand — help
  13. degree — an amount
  14. pitch — a sales talk
  15. wave — a sudden rise
  16. spring — of water
  17. key — for a lock
  18. key — in music
  19. land — to come down
  20. key — the most important part
  21. pitch — completely
  22. degree — temperature
  23. spring — the season
  24. wave — of the sea

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