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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  11. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  12. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. game — wild animals
  3. chip — to eat
  4. land — to come down
  5. file — a document
  6. game — a match
  7. degree — temperature
  8. land — a country
  9. file — a tool
  10. dip — to sink
  11. chip — in a computer
  12. dip — to dunk
  13. land — ground
  14. dip — a sauce
  15. race — a contest
  16. face — part of the head
  17. file — a line of people
  18. degree — an amount
  19. race — the arms race
  20. race — humankind
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. face — to confront
  23. face — to point toward
  24. chip — for betting

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