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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: degree · land · racket · stem · bark · band · mate · scale

  1. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. land — to come down
  3. degree — from a university
  4. racket — a loud noise
  5. bark — to shout
  6. scale — size or range
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. band — a music group
  10. scale — in music
  11. stem — to come from
  12. degree — temperature
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. mate — a friend
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. land — ground
  17. mate — to breed
  18. band — a ring
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. degree — an amount
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. land — a country
  24. racket — for tennis

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