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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  22. That must've been a ________________.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. fine — high quality
  3. cell — in biology
  4. ball — a great time
  5. degree — from a university
  6. cell — a phone
  7. race — a contest
  8. race — humankind
  9. ball — a round shape
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. game — a match
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. scale — in music
  14. degree — an amount
  15. degree — temperature
  16. game — wild animals
  17. fine — all right
  18. ball — a dance
  19. scale — size or range
  20. race — the arms race
  21. rush — to hurry
  22. rush — a thrill
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. fine — a penalty

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