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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. We're almost out of ________________.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — soda
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. degree — an amount
  5. degree — from a university
  6. row — a line
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. pop — to visit
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. capital — money
  12. degree — temperature
  13. wound — an injury
  14. row — to paddle
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. pop — music
  18. chair — a leader
  19. fork — in a road
  20. capital — a city
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. snap — to click
  23. wound — an injury
  24. row — a quarrel

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