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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. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. The King held a masked ________________.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. degree — from a university
  3. rash — hasty
  4. rash — a series
  5. sharp — clever
  6. ground — the earth
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. race — humankind
  9. swing — music
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. swing — in golf
  13. band — a ring
  14. ball — a great time
  15. degree — an amount
  16. swing — to play on
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. ground — crushed
  19. degree — temperature
  20. race — the arms race
  21. race — a contest
  22. ball — a dance
  23. band — a music group
  24. ground — a position

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