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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: bat · mate · tear · mine · degree · band · mouse · stand

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  4. I can't ________________ this cold.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  14. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  17. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. Have you found your soul ________________?
  23. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. tear — from crying
  3. mouse — for a computer
  4. stand — to bear
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. mate — to breed
  7. band — a music group
  8. degree — from a university
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. degree — temperature
  11. bat — the animal
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. mouse — the animal
  14. mouse — the animal
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. mate — a friend
  17. stand — on your feet
  18. tear — from crying
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. band — a ring
  21. tear — to rip
  22. mate — a partner
  23. stand — for spectators
  24. mine — for digging

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