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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: wound · staff · land · ball · file · deal · degree · rash

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  8. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  9. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  10. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. The King held a masked ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  18. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. land — ground
  3. rash — a series
  4. rash — hasty
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. degree — an amount
  7. staff — a stick
  8. deal — a big deal
  9. deal — an agreement
  10. ball — a round shape
  11. land — to come down
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. staff — employees
  14. degree — from a university
  15. ball — a dance
  16. degree — temperature
  17. deal — to handle
  18. staff — employees
  19. wound — an injury
  20. wound — an injury
  21. file — a tool
  22. file — a document
  23. ball — a great time
  24. file — a line of people

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