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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. There's no middle ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  5. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  6. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  17. Where did you ________________ them?
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. degree — an amount
  3. hand — help
  4. pitch — a sports field
  5. mug — a face
  6. pitch — a sales talk
  7. pitch — completely
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. kid — to tease
  10. ground — the earth
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. ground — crushed
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. game — a match
  15. kid — child
  16. mug — a cup
  17. mug — to rob
  18. sharp — clever
  19. degree — temperature
  20. hand — in cards
  21. game — wild animals
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. degree — from a university
  24. sharp — with an edge

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