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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. This piece is in a major ________________.
  12. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  18. We're on a ________________ here.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  22. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  23. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  24. Tom got himself in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. game — wild animals
  3. clip — for paper
  4. game — a match
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. clip — a video
  7. key — for a lock
  8. stock — shares
  9. degree — from a university
  10. stock — goods
  11. key — in music
  12. key — the most important part
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. jam — in traffic
  15. clip — to cut
  16. degree — temperature
  17. roll — a cake
  18. roll — on a roll
  19. kid — to tease
  20. kid — child
  21. jam — to spread on bread
  22. stock — a soup base
  23. roll — a list
  24. jam — a tight spot

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