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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  9. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  12. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. track — to keep track
  4. hide — animal skin
  5. degree — temperature
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. file — a line of people
  8. rock — a stone
  9. hide — to keep secret
  10. sharp — clever
  11. rock — music
  12. rock — to move gently
  13. track — a path
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. file — a tool
  16. track — a song
  17. file — a document
  18. degree — from a university

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