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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 · chip · mine · bowl · kid · rash · land · band

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  22. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. bowl — to roll
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. chip — for betting
  5. rash — hasty
  6. kid — child
  7. kid — to tease
  8. land — to come down
  9. bowl — a dish
  10. band — a ring
  11. rash — a series
  12. degree — temperature
  13. band — a music group
  14. mine — for digging
  15. degree — an amount
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. degree — from a university
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. chip — to eat
  20. land — ground
  21. rash — on the skin
  22. chip — in a computer
  23. land — a country
  24. bowl — a football final

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