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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: wave · degree · rule · row · land · pound · tube · hand

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  10. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  11. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  12. I'll be taking the ________________.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. degree — temperature
  4. rule — government
  5. hand — help
  6. row — a line
  7. rule — to rule out
  8. degree — from a university
  9. wave — a sudden rise
  10. rule — a law
  11. wave — of the sea
  12. tube — the underground
  13. land — ground
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. tube — in a tire
  16. row — to paddle
  17. tube — a container
  18. hand — in cards
  19. pound — a weight
  20. pound — for dogs
  21. land — a country
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. land — to come down
  24. wave — with your hand

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