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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  20. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  21. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. hand — in cards
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. hand — help
  5. game — a match
  6. cell — a phone
  7. mark — to pay attention
  8. degree — temperature
  9. row — a line
  10. game — wild animals
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. wax — in the ear
  15. degree — an amount
  16. wax — to grow
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. cell — in biology
  19. kick — a thrill
  20. mark — a grade
  21. kick — in football
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. mark — a trace
  24. row — to paddle

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