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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. The ________________ went through the wall.
  6. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  15. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. degree — from a university
  3. ruler — a monarch
  4. court — for sport
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. degree — temperature
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. content — the amount
  11. board — to get on
  12. cold — an illness
  13. degree — an amount
  14. board — a flat piece
  15. board — a committee
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. ruler — for measuring
  18. court — of a king
  19. cold — not warm
  20. court — of law
  21. ruler — for measuring
  22. fork — in a road
  23. nail — on a finger
  24. content — videos and posts

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