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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. Don't do anything ________________.
  8. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  13. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. That must've been a ________________.
  18. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  19. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. He's quite ________________, isn't he?

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. degree — from a university
  3. scale — size or range
  4. degree — an amount
  5. rock — music
  6. bark — to shout
  7. rash — hasty
  8. rush — hurry
  9. mine — for digging
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. rock — to move gently
  13. rock — a stone
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. degree — temperature
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. rush — a thrill
  18. rash — on the skin
  19. scale — for weighing
  20. scale — in music
  21. rush — to hurry
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. rash — a series
  24. sharp — clever

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