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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. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. rash — hasty
  3. spell — a short time
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. cell — a phone
  7. spell — letters
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. ground — a position
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. bat — the animal
  12. net — after costs
  13. ground — the earth
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. ground — crushed
  16. degree — an amount
  17. net — in sport
  18. degree — temperature
  19. cell — in biology
  20. fan — to cool the air
  21. degree — from a university
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. net — for catching
  24. rash — a series

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