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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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  22. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. squash — the sport
  3. drill — a practice
  4. degree — an amount
  5. land — a country
  6. rest — a break
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. degree — from a university
  9. sharp — clever
  10. file — a document
  11. file — a tool
  12. land — to come down
  13. rest — what's left
  14. drill — army training
  15. land — ground
  16. drill — the tool
  17. bass — low music
  18. bass — the fish
  19. rest — what's left
  20. file — a line of people
  21. squash — the vegetable
  22. squash — to crush
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. sharp — exactly

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