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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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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: rest · stick · roll · wind · degree · clip · land · mouse

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  3. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  7. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  11. We're on a ________________ here.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  20. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  21. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  22. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. roll — a list
  3. mouse — the animal
  4. clip — for paper
  5. degree — from a university
  6. mouse — for a computer
  7. stick — a piece of wood
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. clip — to cut
  10. rest — a break
  11. roll — on a roll
  12. land — to come down
  13. wind — moving air
  14. degree — temperature
  15. degree — an amount
  16. roll — a cake
  17. land — ground
  18. wind — moving air
  19. stick — a piece of wood
  20. rest — what's left
  21. mouse — the animal
  22. rest — what's left
  23. clip — a video
  24. stick — to attach or keep to

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