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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. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  24. David sat on the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. degree — an amount
  3. game — a match
  4. kid — to tease
  5. scale — size or range
  6. kid — child
  7. game — wild animals
  8. degree — temperature
  9. swing — music
  10. racket — a loud noise
  11. spell — letters
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. swing — in golf
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. spell — magic
  16. scale — in music
  17. mine — for digging
  18. racket — for tennis
  19. spell — a short time
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. degree — from a university
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. racket — for tennis
  24. swing — to play on

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