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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. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  9. Where did you ________________ them?
  10. What do you think of the new ________________?
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  20. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  21. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. mug — a face
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. squash — the sport
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. content — happy
  7. degree — from a university
  8. rule — government
  9. mug — to rob
  10. cabinet — ministers
  11. tear — to rip
  12. tear — from crying
  13. mug — a cup
  14. squash — to crush
  15. rule — a law
  16. degree — temperature
  17. content — the amount
  18. tear — from crying
  19. fork — to eat with
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. cabinet — a cupboard
  22. fork — in a road
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. rule — to rule out

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