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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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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. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  16. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — in football
  2. content — the amount
  3. degree — from a university
  4. net — for catching
  5. mine — for digging
  6. net — after costs
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. degree — an amount
  9. lean — to bend
  10. net — in sport
  11. degree — temperature
  12. lean — thin
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. content — happy
  15. lean — to rest against
  16. kick — a thrill
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. kick — with a leg

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