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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  6. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. When was this ________________ built?
  20. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. mouse — for a computer
  3. degree — from a university
  4. cold — not warm
  5. temple — a place of worship
  6. temple — side of the head
  7. pitch — completely
  8. land — a country
  9. hand — in cards
  10. mouse — the animal
  11. wound — an injury
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. wound — an injury
  14. degree — temperature
  15. pitch — a sports field
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. land — ground
  18. degree — an amount
  19. temple — a place of worship
  20. mouse — the animal
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. pitch — a sales talk
  23. cold — an illness
  24. land — to come down

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