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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 120 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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  4. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  5. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  6. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  12. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  13. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  18. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  19. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  20. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  21. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  24. The ________________ change colour in autumn.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. degree — an amount
  3. bowl — a dish
  4. leaves — to go away
  5. fine — all right
  6. bore — gave birth
  7. degree — temperature
  8. bowl — to roll
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. bore — to drill
  12. bowl — a football final
  13. bore — to tire
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. leaves — lets stay
  18. fine — a penalty
  19. fine — high quality
  20. dip — to sink
  21. dip — to dunk
  22. bat — the animal
  23. dip — a sauce
  24. leaves — of a tree

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