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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. False peace will not ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  15. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. degree — from a university
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. band — a ring
  5. lash — to lash out
  6. degree — temperature
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. last — final
  9. kid — child
  10. degree — an amount
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. game — a match
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. bore — gave birth
  15. bore — to drill
  16. kid — to tease
  17. game — wild animals
  18. lash — an eyelash
  19. last — finally
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. lash — a whip stroke
  22. band — a music group
  23. bore — to tire
  24. mine — for digging

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