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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. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. Have you met the new head ________________?
  22. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  23. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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. coach — pulled by horses
  4. wind — moving air
  5. ground — the earth
  6. mouse — the animal
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. land — ground
  9. wind — moving air
  10. drill — the tool
  11. mouse — for a computer
  12. drill — army training
  13. land — a country
  14. bat — the animal
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. degree — temperature
  18. land — to come down
  19. drill — a practice
  20. ground — crushed
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. mouse — the animal
  24. ground — a position

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