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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: row · last · mouse · degree · field · band · mine · cold

  1. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. degree — an amount
  4. last — final
  5. field — farmland
  6. field — for sport
  7. cold — not warm
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. cold — an illness
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. degree — temperature
  12. mouse — the animal
  13. degree — from a university
  14. field — a subject
  15. row — a line
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. mouse — for a computer
  18. last — to go on
  19. row — to paddle
  20. mine — for digging
  21. band — a music group
  22. last — finally
  23. mouse — the animal
  24. band — a ring

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