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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  8. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. content — the amount
  3. degree — an amount
  4. degree — temperature
  5. spell — a short time
  6. kid — to tease
  7. fine — all right
  8. squash — the vegetable
  9. spell — magic
  10. fine — a penalty
  11. degree — from a university
  12. content — happy
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. last — to go on
  15. last — finally
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. wake — before a funeral
  18. squash — the sport
  19. kid — child
  20. squash — to crush
  21. last — final
  22. fine — high quality
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. wake — a trail

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