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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. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. The ________________ took off on time.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. This piece is in a major ________________.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  19. Have you found your soul ________________?
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  22. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. land — to come down
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. degree — temperature
  6. degree — from a university
  7. plane — an aircraft
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. capital — a city
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. key — for a lock
  12. snap — to click
  13. capital — money
  14. key — in music
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. key — the most important part
  17. land — ground
  18. mate — to breed
  19. mate — a partner
  20. land — a country
  21. plane — a tool
  22. plane — in geometry
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. degree — an amount

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