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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.

Make a worksheet

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. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. This piece is in a major ________________.
  24. Hard work is the ________________ to success.

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

Answer key

  1. foot — the bottom
  2. degree — an amount
  3. game — a match
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. key — for a lock
  6. degree — from a university
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. foot — part of the body
  10. game — wild animals
  11. file — a tool
  12. mine — for digging
  13. shower — to wash
  14. foot — a measure
  15. degree — temperature
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. file — a document
  21. shower — rain
  22. file — a line of people
  23. key — in music
  24. key — the most important part

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