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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: kid · wound · wave · deal · rock · wind · rule · degree

  1. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  2. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  7. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  10. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  11. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  16. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — a big deal
  2. deal — an agreement
  3. kid — to tease
  4. degree — an amount
  5. wound — an injury
  6. wave — with your hand
  7. deal — to handle
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. rock — to move gently
  10. rule — to rule out
  11. wave — of the sea
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. rule — a law
  14. degree — from a university
  15. rock — a stone
  16. wave — a sudden rise
  17. wind — moving air
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. degree — temperature
  20. rock — music
  21. kid — child
  22. wind — moving air
  23. rule — government
  24. wound — an injury

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