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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. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  22. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a song
  2. degree — an amount
  3. bore — to drill
  4. clip — to cut
  5. chip — to eat
  6. race — a contest
  7. game — a match
  8. race — the arms race
  9. clip — for paper
  10. bore — gave birth
  11. ground — crushed
  12. ground — a position
  13. chip — in a computer
  14. game — wild animals
  15. bore — to tire
  16. ground — the earth
  17. degree — from a university
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. race — humankind
  20. clip — a video
  21. track — to keep track
  22. track — a path
  23. degree — temperature
  24. chip — for betting

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