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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: wind · spell · mine · pitch · fan · degree · rush · drill

  1. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  9. That must've been a ________________.
  10. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. spell — magic
  3. rush — to hurry
  4. drill — army training
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. wind — moving air
  8. rush — hurry
  9. rush — a thrill
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. drill — a practice
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. degree — temperature
  15. drill — the tool
  16. fan — to cool the air
  17. mine — for digging
  18. degree — an amount
  19. pitch — a sales talk
  20. wind — moving air
  21. degree — from a university
  22. pitch — completely
  23. spell — a short time
  24. wind — to turn a key

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