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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. She's very handy with a ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  17. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  24. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. march — the month
  5. march — the month
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. cold — not warm
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. content — the amount
  11. cold — an illness
  12. kick — in football
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. saw — the tool
  15. degree — temperature
  16. hide — animal skin
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. saw — past of 'see'
  19. march — music
  20. content — happy
  21. saw — the tool
  22. degree — from a university
  23. hide — to keep secret
  24. kick — with a leg

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