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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 116 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. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  2. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. That must've been a ________________.
  10. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  15. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  16. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  17. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  18. This piece is in a major ________________.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.

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

Answer key

  1. key — the most important part
  2. rush — to hurry
  3. degree — an amount
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. degree — from a university
  6. row — to paddle
  7. degree — temperature
  8. bat — the animal
  9. rush — a thrill
  10. track — a path
  11. row — a line
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. kick — in football
  15. kick — with a leg
  16. track — to keep track
  17. key — for a lock
  18. key — in music
  19. wind — moving air
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. rush — hurry
  23. wind — moving air
  24. track — a song

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