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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 120 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 · wind · band · clip · craft · row · last · degree

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. rash — a series
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. wind — moving air
  5. rash — hasty
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. craft — a handicraft
  8. last — final
  9. last — to go on
  10. degree — an amount
  11. clip — to cut
  12. craft — a skill
  13. degree — from a university
  14. row — to paddle
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. row — a line
  17. clip — for paper
  18. craft — boats
  19. degree — temperature
  20. last — finally
  21. wind — moving air
  22. clip — a video
  23. band — a music group
  24. row — a quarrel

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