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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. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  3. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  20. What do you think of the new ________________?
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  23. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. drill — the tool
  3. swing — in golf
  4. game — wild animals
  5. swing — music
  6. stick — a piece of wood
  7. game — a match
  8. degree — temperature
  9. hand — help
  10. cabinet — a cupboard
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. drill — a practice
  13. tube — a container
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. drill — army training
  16. swing — to play on
  17. cabinet — ministers
  18. hand — in cards
  19. stick — a piece of wood
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. degree — from a university
  22. stick — to attach or keep to
  23. tube — in a tire
  24. degree — an amount

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