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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: land · file · bank · degree · hand · pass · game · march

  1. That was a fun ________________.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  16. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  20. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. game — wild animals
  3. hand — help
  4. bank — for money
  5. land — to come down
  6. file — a tool
  7. degree — from a university
  8. degree — an amount
  9. hand — in cards
  10. degree — temperature
  11. march — music
  12. file — a document
  13. march — the month
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. pass — to spend time
  16. pass — to succeed
  17. land — ground
  18. land — a country
  19. bank — for money
  20. pass — a permit
  21. march — the month
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. bank — of a river
  24. file — a line of people

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