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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. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  2. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. This piece is in a major ________________.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. My mare is ________________ in color.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  19. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — of ice
  2. key — the most important part
  3. kid — to tease
  4. bay — to keep at bay
  5. ground — crushed
  6. key — in music
  7. game — a match
  8. degree — from a university
  9. game — wild animals
  10. kid — child
  11. ground — a position
  12. cap — a hat
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. bay — a horse colour
  16. degree — an amount
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. bay — a part of the sea
  19. key — for a lock
  20. capital — a city
  21. cap — a lid
  22. ground — the earth
  23. capital — money
  24. degree — temperature

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