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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 116 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. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  4. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  5. The ________________ took off on time.
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  21. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. lean — to rest against
  4. plane — in geometry
  5. plane — an aircraft
  6. lean — to bend
  7. ruler — for measuring
  8. degree — from a university
  9. content — the amount
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. capital — money
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. mine — for digging
  14. cell — a phone
  15. degree — temperature
  16. content — happy
  17. capital — a city
  18. lean — thin
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. ruler — a monarch
  21. plane — a tool
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. ruler — for measuring
  24. cell — in biology

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