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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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  7. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  8. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. The ________________ took off on time.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  24. Tom got himself in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. degree — an amount
  3. sharp — clever
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. degree — from a university
  6. jam — to spread on bread
  7. plane — in geometry
  8. object — to protest
  9. cold — not warm
  10. object — an aim
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. field — for sport
  13. object — a thing
  14. field — farmland
  15. plane — an aircraft
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. plane — a tool
  18. cold — an illness
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. field — a subject
  21. bat — the animal
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. jam — in traffic
  24. jam — a tight spot

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