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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  5. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. land — ground
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. toast — a drink to someone
  5. wake — a trail
  6. land — a country
  7. toast — bread
  8. cold — an illness
  9. branch — a division
  10. game — wild animals
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. degree — temperature
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. wave — a sudden rise
  16. cold — not warm
  17. land — to come down
  18. toast — the most admired
  19. game — a match
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. wave — of the sea
  23. degree — an amount
  24. wave — with your hand

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