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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 pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. degree — from a university
  5. chest — of your body
  6. degree — temperature
  7. chest — a box
  8. rest — what's left
  9. swing — music
  10. swing — in golf
  11. degree — an amount
  12. swing — to play on
  13. pitch — a sales talk
  14. row — a line
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. capital — a city
  17. pitch — completely
  18. chest — of your body
  19. rest — a break
  20. row — to paddle
  21. pitch — a sports field
  22. rest — what's left
  23. capital — money
  24. game — a match

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