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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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  4. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. staff — employees
  3. staff — employees
  4. staff — a stick
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. date — the fruit
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. hand — help
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. squash — the sport
  12. degree — from a university
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. cell — in biology
  16. cell — a phone
  17. net — for catching
  18. net — in sport
  19. squash — to crush
  20. net — after costs
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. hand — in cards
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. degree — an amount

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