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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. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. mate — a friend
  3. net — in sport
  4. degree — an amount
  5. kid — to tease
  6. mate — to breed
  7. pass — to spend time
  8. mate — a partner
  9. kid — child
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. wake — a trail
  12. pass — to succeed
  13. file — a tool
  14. race — the arms race
  15. race — humankind
  16. file — a line of people
  17. pass — a permit
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. file — a document
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. race — a contest
  22. net — after costs
  23. degree — temperature
  24. net — for catching

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