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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: degree · land · last · bound · rash · mine · racket · content

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  8. That was ________________ to happen.
  9. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  10. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. land — to come down
  3. land — ground
  4. bound — obliged
  5. last — to go on
  6. mine — for digging
  7. rash — a series
  8. bound — certain
  9. rash — on the skin
  10. racket — a loud noise
  11. degree — from a university
  12. last — finally
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. rash — hasty
  16. bound — tied together
  17. land — a country
  18. racket — for tennis
  19. degree — temperature
  20. content — the amount
  21. last — final
  22. content — happy
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. mine — belonging to me

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