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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 116 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: mine · race · hand · degree · craft · wake · ground · net

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. net — in sport
  3. craft — a handicraft
  4. mine — for digging
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. craft — a skill
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. net — after costs
  11. degree — from a university
  12. ground — the earth
  13. race — a contest
  14. ground — a position
  15. hand — help
  16. wake — a trail
  17. net — for catching
  18. race — humankind
  19. craft — boats
  20. hand — in cards
  21. degree — temperature
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. ground — crushed
  24. race — the arms race

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