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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 124 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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  3. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  10. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. That must've been a ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  17. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. The ________________ went through the wall.
  22. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. nail — on a finger
  3. lean — thin
  4. degree — an amount
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. scale — size or range
  7. cold — an illness
  8. spell — letters
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. tube — in a tire
  11. tube — the underground
  12. spell — magic
  13. rush — a thrill
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. scale — in music
  16. rush — to hurry
  17. rush — hurry
  18. lean — to rest against
  19. cold — not warm
  20. degree — temperature
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. lean — to bend
  23. spell — a short time
  24. tube — a container

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