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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: wound · leaves · degree · saw · spell · net · land · band

  1. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. She's very handy with a ________________.
  24. He works in a ________________ mill.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — a short time
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. degree — from a university
  4. wound — an injury
  5. net — after costs
  6. leaves — of a tree
  7. degree — an amount
  8. land — to come down
  9. leaves — to go away
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. degree — temperature
  12. leaves — lets stay
  13. band — a music group
  14. spell — letters
  15. net — in sport
  16. land — ground
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. spell — magic
  19. net — for catching
  20. band — a ring
  21. wound — an injury
  22. land — a country
  23. saw — the tool
  24. saw — the tool

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