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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 · lie · content · field · saw · staff · straw · land

  1. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  4. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. She's very handy with a ________________.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. He works in a ________________ mill.
  21. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  22. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. lie — an untruth
  4. staff — a stick
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. land — a country
  7. staff — employees
  8. degree — an amount
  9. lie — an untruth
  10. degree — temperature
  11. field — a subject
  12. staff — employees
  13. content — the amount
  14. degree — from a university
  15. saw — the tool
  16. field — farmland
  17. content — happy
  18. field — for sport
  19. land — ground
  20. saw — the tool
  21. saw — past of 'see'
  22. lie — to recline
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. land — to come down

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