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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: degree · wound · ground · deal · file · band · game · rush

  1. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. degree — from a university
  3. degree — an amount
  4. ground — crushed
  5. game — wild animals
  6. rush — hurry
  7. band — a ring
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. ground — a position
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. wound — an injury
  12. deal — an agreement
  13. file — a tool
  14. file — a line of people
  15. band — a music group
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. wound — an injury
  18. ground — the earth
  19. degree — temperature
  20. deal — to handle
  21. game — a match
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. file — a document
  24. deal — a big deal

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