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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 120 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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. cell — a phone
  3. game — wild animals
  4. track — a path
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. spell — a short time
  7. wake — a trail
  8. track — to keep track
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. shower — rain
  11. degree — temperature
  12. degree — from a university
  13. track — a song
  14. board — to get on
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. cell — in biology
  17. spell — letters
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. spell — magic
  20. degree — an amount
  21. board — a flat piece
  22. shower — to wash
  23. board — a committee
  24. cell — in a prison

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