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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: chip · date · degree · row · mine · net · straw · mug

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  6. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. Have you settled on a ________________?
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. Where did you ________________ them?
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. net — after costs
  3. date — the fruit
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. chip — to eat
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. net — in sport
  8. mine — for digging
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. degree — temperature
  11. mug — a cup
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. mug — a face
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. row — a line
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. chip — in a computer
  18. chip — for betting
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. row — to paddle
  21. mug — to rob
  22. net — for catching
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. degree — from a university

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