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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: rash · mine · chip · bound · field · track · wind · degree

  1. That was ________________ to happen.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  23. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — certain
  2. wind — moving air
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. chip — for betting
  5. field — a subject
  6. track — a song
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. degree — an amount
  10. chip — in a computer
  11. mine — for digging
  12. bound — obliged
  13. field — farmland
  14. bound — tied together
  15. rash — hasty
  16. degree — from a university
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. field — for sport
  19. degree — temperature
  20. track — to keep track
  21. rash — a series
  22. track — a path
  23. chip — to eat
  24. wind — moving air

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