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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  18. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  21. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  22. Did you ________________ the meat?
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  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. degree — an amount
  2. object — a thing
  3. degree — from a university
  4. season — of the year
  5. wound — an injury
  6. mine — for digging
  7. can — to be able to
  8. pop — music
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. degree — temperature
  11. object — to protest
  12. pop — to visit
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. wound — an injury
  15. pop — soda
  16. row — a line
  17. can — a tin
  18. can — a tin
  19. row — to paddle
  20. object — an aim
  21. season — in sport
  22. season — to add flavour
  23. mine — an explosive
  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