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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. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. The King held a masked ________________.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. kid — to tease
  4. ball — a dance
  5. degree — from a university
  6. ball — a round shape
  7. net — for catching
  8. craft — a skill
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. degree — an amount
  11. wake — a trail
  12. craft — boats
  13. kid — child
  14. ground — crushed
  15. craft — a handicraft
  16. net — after costs
  17. net — in sport
  18. land — ground
  19. wake — before a funeral
  20. land — to come down
  21. degree — temperature
  22. ground — a position
  23. ground — the earth
  24. land — a country

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