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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. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  4. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  22. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  23. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  24. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. present — the time now
  4. present — a gift
  5. degree — an amount
  6. bowl — a dish
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. bowl — a football final
  9. kid — to tease
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. tube — the underground
  12. game — a match
  13. game — wild animals
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. bowl — to roll
  16. degree — from a university
  17. degree — temperature
  18. racket — a loud noise
  19. kid — child
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. racket — for tennis
  22. tube — in a tire
  23. present — there
  24. tube — a container

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