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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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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: band · mate · wind · cold · object · craft · degree · saw

  1. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. Have you found your soul ________________?
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  12. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  13. He works in a ________________ mill.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  16. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  17. She's very handy with a ________________.
  18. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. band — a ring
  4. cold — an illness
  5. object — a thing
  6. degree — temperature
  7. mate — a partner
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. mate — a friend
  10. mate — to breed
  11. object — to protest
  12. craft — boats
  13. saw — the tool
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. object — an aim
  16. saw — past of 'see'
  17. saw — the tool
  18. craft — a skill
  19. degree — an amount
  20. craft — a handicraft
  21. degree — from a university
  22. band — a music group
  23. wind — moving air
  24. cold — not warm

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