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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. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. My father caught me by the ________________.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. cap — of ice
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. degree — temperature
  8. game — a match
  9. arm — a part of something
  10. swing — to play on
  11. field — farmland
  12. field — for sport
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. field — a subject
  15. last — final
  16. cap — a lid
  17. degree — from a university
  18. snap — to click
  19. game — wild animals
  20. swing — in golf
  21. last — finally
  22. swing — music
  23. cap — a hat
  24. last — to go on

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