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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  15. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. pit — a hole
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. bat — the animal
  6. board — a committee
  7. land — ground
  8. land — to come down
  9. degree — from a university
  10. board — a flat piece
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. land — a country
  13. degree — an amount
  14. board — to get on
  15. pit — a fruit stone
  16. scale — size or range
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. scale — in music
  19. cold — an illness
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. degree — temperature
  23. pit — in a race
  24. cold — not warm

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