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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. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  3. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. The ________________ took off on time.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  17. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  18. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  19. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  20. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  21. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. rest — a break
  3. plane — in geometry
  4. degree — temperature
  5. plane — an aircraft
  6. hand — in cards
  7. root — of a word
  8. hand — help
  9. bat — the animal
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. row — to paddle
  13. pass — a permit
  14. row — a line
  15. degree — from a university
  16. pass — to succeed
  17. root — the cause
  18. rest — what's left
  19. rest — what's left
  20. pass — to spend time
  21. root — of a plant
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. plane — a tool
  24. bat — in an idiom

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