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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 116 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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. There's no middle ________________.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. capital — money
  3. snap — to click
  4. hand — in cards
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. ground — the earth
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. race — a contest
  9. degree — from a university
  10. degree — an amount
  11. hand — help
  12. degree — temperature
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. race — the arms race
  15. capital — a city
  16. ground — crushed
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. race — humankind

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