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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 would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  22. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  23. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — a drink to someone
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. degree — from a university
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. kid — child
  6. tube — the underground
  7. degree — an amount
  8. degree — temperature
  9. capital — money
  10. deal — an agreement
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. deal — a big deal
  14. row — to paddle
  15. capital — a city
  16. kid — to tease
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. row — a line
  19. tube — a container
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. deal — to handle
  22. toast — the most admired
  23. toast — bread
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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