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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. Have you found your soul ________________?
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. game — wild animals
  3. mate — a friend
  4. degree — temperature
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. mate — to breed
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. snap — to click
  9. spell — letters
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. spell — a short time
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. mine — for digging
  15. mate — a partner
  16. spell — magic
  17. degree — from a university
  18. game — a match

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