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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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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: wake · staff · last · chip · degree · pitch · mine · rash

  1. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — a stick
  2. staff — employees
  3. rash — hasty
  4. pitch — completely
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. chip — for betting
  7. degree — from a university
  8. chip — in a computer
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. last — final
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. wake — a trail
  15. staff — employees
  16. degree — an amount
  17. last — to go on
  18. mine — for digging
  19. chip — to eat
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. rash — on the skin
  22. rash — a series
  23. last — finally
  24. degree — temperature

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