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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  6. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  15. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  16. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  23. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  24. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. degree — from a university
  3. squash — to crush
  4. race — a contest
  5. squash — the vegetable
  6. craft — boats
  7. race — the arms race
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. lie — an untruth
  10. cold — not warm
  11. drill — the tool
  12. craft — a skill
  13. drill — a practice
  14. mark — a grade
  15. mark — to pay attention
  16. mark — a trace
  17. race — humankind
  18. degree — temperature
  19. squash — the sport
  20. cold — an illness
  21. drill — army training
  22. lie — to recline
  23. lie — an untruth
  24. craft — a handicraft

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