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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  24. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. content — happy
  3. degree — from a university
  4. rash — hasty
  5. object — an aim
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. last — finally
  8. rash — a series
  9. degree — temperature
  10. object — a thing
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. object — to protest
  13. last — final
  14. scale — in music
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. wind — moving air
  18. wind — moving air
  19. content — the amount
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. scale — size or range
  22. last — to go on
  23. rash — on the skin
  24. coach — pulled by horses

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