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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. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — for weighing
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. degree — an amount
  4. game — wild animals
  5. bat — the animal
  6. last — final
  7. game — a match
  8. scale — in music
  9. scale — size or range
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. degree — from a university
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. degree — temperature
  15. last — to go on
  16. last — finally
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. snap — to click

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