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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: band · degree · ruler · rest · capital · straw · file · deal

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  6. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  7. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  8. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  18. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. band — a music group
  3. degree — an amount
  4. band — a ring
  5. rest — what's left
  6. deal — an agreement
  7. rest — a break
  8. ruler — for measuring
  9. file — a tool
  10. file — a line of people
  11. capital — a city
  12. degree — from a university
  13. ruler — a monarch
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. deal — to handle
  18. deal — a big deal
  19. file — a document
  20. degree — temperature
  21. rest — what's left
  22. capital — money
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. ruler — for measuring

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