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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. Don't do anything ________________.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. mark — a trace
  3. pop — to visit
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. mine — for digging
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. degree — temperature
  10. trunk — of an elephant
  11. snap — to click
  12. rash — a series
  13. mark — a grade
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. mark — to pay attention
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. pop — soda
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. rash — hasty
  22. perch — the fish
  23. degree — from a university
  24. pop — music

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