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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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 · march · land · roll · wave · kid · mine · key

  1. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  2. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  6. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  11. We're on a ________________ here.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. This piece is in a major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. key — for a lock
  2. roll — a cake
  3. land — a country
  4. degree — from a university
  5. roll — a list
  6. wave — with your hand
  7. march — the month
  8. key — the most important part
  9. march — music
  10. wave — a sudden rise
  11. roll — on a roll
  12. mine — for digging
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. degree — temperature
  16. wave — of the sea
  17. degree — an amount
  18. kid — child
  19. land — ground
  20. land — to come down
  21. march — the month
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. kid — to tease
  24. key — in music

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