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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: land · fan · rush · bark · ball · chest · pitcher · degree

  1. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. That must've been a ________________.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  14. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. ball — a dance
  3. rush — a thrill
  4. land — ground
  5. degree — from a university
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. land — a country
  8. degree — an amount
  9. fan — to cool the air
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. ball — a round shape
  12. degree — temperature
  13. ball — a great time
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. land — to come down
  17. bark — to shout
  18. chest — a box
  19. chest — of your body
  20. chest — of your body
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. fan — a supporter

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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