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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. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  19. We're on a ________________ here.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  24. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.

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

Answer key

  1. cue — a hint
  2. capital — money
  3. degree — an amount
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. land — to come down
  7. roll — a cake
  8. race — the arms race
  9. land — a country
  10. degree — from a university
  11. fork — in a road
  12. race — a contest
  13. race — humankind
  14. degree — temperature
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. roll — a list
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. fork — to eat with
  19. roll — on a roll
  20. land — ground
  21. cue — for pool
  22. capital — a city
  23. cue — a signal
  24. fork — a garden tool

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