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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 124 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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  16. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  21. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. The tickets are free of ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. degree — an amount
  3. dip — to dunk
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. charge — electricity
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. rash — a series
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. field — a subject
  10. dip — to sink
  11. degree — temperature
  12. content — happy
  13. dip — a sauce
  14. rash — hasty
  15. root — of a plant
  16. root — the cause
  17. degree — from a university
  18. field — for sport
  19. field — farmland
  20. root — of a word
  21. charge — in control
  22. game — a match
  23. charge — a price
  24. game — wild animals

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