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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 120 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. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  4. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. mouse — for a computer
  2. degree — an amount
  3. mouse — the animal
  4. rock — to move gently
  5. hand — help
  6. rock — a stone
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. prune — to trim
  10. chest — of your body
  11. hand — in cards
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. chest — a box
  14. sharp — clever
  15. cold — an illness
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. mouse — the animal
  18. chest — of your body
  19. prune — to trim
  20. degree — from a university
  21. rock — music
  22. cold — not warm
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. degree — temperature

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