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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. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  3. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  4. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  5. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  10. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  14. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  15. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The old man leaned on his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. pit — a fruit stone
  3. pit — in a race
  4. mouse — the animal
  5. mouse — the animal
  6. degree — an amount
  7. march — music
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. mouse — for a computer
  10. track — a path
  11. game — a match
  12. cold — an illness
  13. pit — a hole
  14. staff — employees
  15. track — a song
  16. degree — from a university
  17. track — to keep track
  18. cold — not warm
  19. march — the month
  20. degree — temperature
  21. game — wild animals
  22. march — the month
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. staff — a stick

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