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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: fall · wound · ground · cell · bear · degree · nail · track

  1. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. The ________________ went through the wall.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  11. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  19. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — the animal
  2. ground — crushed
  3. wound — an injury
  4. cell — a phone
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. degree — from a university
  7. degree — an amount
  8. track — to keep track
  9. ground — the earth
  10. bear — the animal
  11. nail — on a finger
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. ground — a position
  15. fall — the season
  16. bear — to put up with
  17. fall — to drop
  18. track — a path
  19. track — a song
  20. degree — temperature
  21. wound — an injury
  22. cell — in biology
  23. fall — to drop
  24. nail — for a hammer

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