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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. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. fork — in a road
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. snap — to click
  5. degree — from a university
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. sharp — clever
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. degree — temperature
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. swing — in golf
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. tube — the underground
  16. swing — music
  17. degree — an amount
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. scale — in music
  20. capital — a city
  21. swing — to play on
  22. scale — size or range
  23. capital — money
  24. sharp — with an edge

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