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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. You don't need to ________________ round.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  22. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. He's quite ________________, isn't he?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. ground — a position
  3. ground — the earth
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. pop — music
  6. pit — in a race
  7. wound — an injury
  8. degree — temperature
  9. cap — a hat
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. cap — a lid
  12. pop — soda
  13. degree — from a university
  14. pit — a fruit stone
  15. field — a subject
  16. pop — to visit
  17. ground — crushed
  18. wound — an injury
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. field — farmland
  21. cap — of ice
  22. pit — a hole
  23. field — for sport
  24. sharp — clever

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