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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  4. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. We're almost out of ________________.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  15. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  16. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  17. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  18. Don't do anything ________________.
  19. The ________________ went through the wall.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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. nail — on a finger
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. pop — to visit
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. hand — help
  10. pop — soda
  11. hand — in cards
  12. bowl — to roll
  13. wake — a trail
  14. bowl — a dish
  15. squash — the sport
  16. bowl — a football final
  17. rash — a series
  18. rash — hasty
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. degree — temperature
  21. wake — to stop sleeping
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. pop — music
  24. squash — to crush

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