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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  17. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  18. I'll be taking the ________________.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. bat — the animal
  4. tube — in a tire
  5. degree — temperature
  6. cell — a phone
  7. track — to keep track
  8. content — the amount
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. track — a song
  13. tube — a container
  14. degree — from a university
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. wake — a trail
  17. track — a path
  18. tube — the underground
  19. cell — in biology
  20. wake — to stop sleeping
  21. hand — in cards
  22. hand — help
  23. content — happy
  24. content — videos and posts

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