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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 · last · rush · leaves · hand · drill · degree · season

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. Did you ________________ the meat?
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  19. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  20. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. That must've been a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. leaves — lets stay
  3. last — final
  4. rush — to hurry
  5. hand — in cards
  6. drill — army training
  7. season — to add flavour
  8. land — to come down
  9. leaves — of a tree
  10. degree — an amount
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. degree — temperature
  13. last — finally
  14. land — a country
  15. season — of the year
  16. last — to go on
  17. drill — the tool
  18. season — in sport
  19. leaves — to go away
  20. rush — hurry
  21. drill — a practice
  22. hand — help
  23. degree — from a university
  24. rush — a thrill

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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