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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 116 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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. degree — from a university
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. bore — gave birth
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. wax — to grow
  9. wax — for sculpting
  10. cell — a phone
  11. ground — the earth
  12. degree — temperature
  13. stock — goods
  14. bore — to tire
  15. ground — a position
  16. cell — in biology
  17. game — wild animals
  18. bore — to drill
  19. fork — in a road
  20. stock — shares
  21. stock — a soup base
  22. degree — an amount
  23. fork — to eat with
  24. ground — crushed

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