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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  3. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. Where did you ________________ them?
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  18. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. mug — a face
  3. board — a flat piece
  4. degree — an amount
  5. last — final
  6. spring — the season
  7. field — farmland
  8. degree — temperature
  9. spring — a coil
  10. race — humankind
  11. field — a subject
  12. ground — the earth
  13. race — a contest
  14. last — to go on
  15. mug — to rob
  16. degree — from a university
  17. board — to get on
  18. mug — a cup
  19. field — for sport
  20. last — finally
  21. ground — a position
  22. board — a committee
  23. spring — of water
  24. race — the arms race

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