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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  6. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  7. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. ground — crushed
  3. content — the amount
  4. ground — a position
  5. bear — to put up with
  6. cap — a hat
  7. bear — the animal
  8. land — to come down
  9. vault — an arched ceiling
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. degree — temperature
  13. content — happy
  14. shower — rain
  15. vault — a safe
  16. ground — the earth
  17. cap — a lid
  18. land — a country
  19. vault — in gymnastics
  20. shower — to wash
  21. cap — of ice
  22. degree — from a university
  23. bear — the animal
  24. land — ground

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