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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 116 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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  5. He works in a ________________ mill.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  18. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  23. That must've been a ________________.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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. rush — hurry
  4. rule — a law
  5. saw — the tool
  6. game — a match
  7. ball — a great time
  8. saw — the tool
  9. ball — a dance
  10. tear — to rip
  11. drill — a practice
  12. degree — temperature
  13. rule — government
  14. game — wild animals
  15. tear — from crying
  16. drill — the tool
  17. rush — to hurry
  18. rule — to rule out
  19. tear — from crying
  20. saw — past of 'see'
  21. drill — army training
  22. ball — a round shape
  23. rush — a thrill
  24. game — a kind of play

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