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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: degree · pound · drill · plane · land · kid · mine · saw

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  10. The ________________ took off on time.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  22. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. She's very handy with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. saw — past of 'see'
  4. drill — a practice
  5. drill — the tool
  6. mine — for digging
  7. saw — the tool
  8. land — a country
  9. plane — a tool
  10. plane — an aircraft
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. drill — army training
  13. kid — to tease
  14. degree — temperature
  15. land — to come down
  16. degree — an amount
  17. land — ground
  18. degree — from a university
  19. pound — for dogs
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. pound — a weight
  22. pound — to hit hard
  23. plane — in geometry
  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