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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: mine · row · ball · trunk · bear · dip · hand · degree

  1. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  17. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  18. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  19. The King held a masked ________________.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. dip — to dunk
  4. hand — help
  5. degree — an amount
  6. degree — from a university
  7. dip — to sink
  8. mine — for digging
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. dip — a sauce
  12. row — a line
  13. ball — a great time
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. ball — a round shape
  17. bear — the animal
  18. bear — the animal
  19. ball — a dance
  20. hand — in cards
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. degree — temperature
  23. bear — to put up with
  24. row — to paddle

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