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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: wake · trunk · spell · ground · mine · hand · band · degree

  1. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. ground — the earth
  2. spell — magic
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. wake — a trail
  5. band — a music group
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. ground — a position
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. spell — letters
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. degree — from a university
  12. degree — an amount
  13. hand — in cards
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. mine — for digging
  16. spell — a short time
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. band — a ring
  19. ground — crushed
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. degree — temperature
  24. hand — help

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