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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  12. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  13. Have you settled on a ________________?
  14. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  22. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  23. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. degree — temperature
  4. content — happy
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. fork — in a road
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. game — a match
  10. degree — an amount
  11. craft — boats
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. craft — a handicraft
  15. date — the fruit
  16. lie — to recline
  17. wake — a trail
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. content — the amount
  21. craft — a skill
  22. fork — a garden tool
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. game — wild animals

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