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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 was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  4. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. degree — from a university
  3. season — of the year
  4. season — in sport
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. file — a tool
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. mine — for digging
  9. file — a document
  10. file — a line of people
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. sharp — clever
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. pit — a hole
  16. snap — to click
  17. degree — temperature
  18. pit — a fruit stone
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. degree — an amount
  22. sharp — with an edge
  23. pit — in a race
  24. perch — the fish

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