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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. We're almost out of ________________.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  15. When was this ________________ built?
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. degree — temperature
  3. snap — to click
  4. degree — an amount
  5. content — happy
  6. last — finally
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. temple — a place of worship
  9. capital — a city
  10. pop — soda
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. pop — to visit
  14. pop — music
  15. temple — a place of worship
  16. perch — the fish
  17. capital — money
  18. last — to go on
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. temple — side of the head
  22. last — final
  23. content — the amount
  24. content — videos and posts

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