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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  3. When will it ________________ you to start?
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  16. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  21. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. cue — a signal
  3. suit — to fit
  4. net — for catching
  5. net — after costs
  6. degree — temperature
  7. net — in sport
  8. cue — a hint
  9. hand — in cards
  10. last — finally
  11. cue — for pool
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. track — a path
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. track — to keep track
  16. suit — clothes
  17. cold — an illness
  18. degree — from a university
  19. last — to go on
  20. suit — in cards
  21. track — a song
  22. hand — help
  23. last — final
  24. cold — not warm

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