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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 120 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. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  14. The ________________ market has crashed.
  15. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — an agreement
  2. race — a contest
  3. race — the arms race
  4. race — humankind
  5. degree — an amount
  6. rule — government
  7. net — in sport
  8. deal — a big deal
  9. field — a subject
  10. field — farmland
  11. field — for sport
  12. degree — from a university
  13. rule — to rule out
  14. stock — shares
  15. deal — to handle
  16. game — a match
  17. net — after costs
  18. degree — temperature
  19. net — for catching
  20. stock — a soup base
  21. stock — goods
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. rule — a law
  24. game — wild animals

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