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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 116 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. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. The light ________________ burned out.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  18. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  19. I've got to change the light ________________.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. tear — to rip
  4. bulb — of a plant
  5. tear — from crying
  6. sharp — clever
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. tube — a container
  11. bulb — for light
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. game — a match
  14. tear — from crying
  15. stem — to come from
  16. tube — the underground
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. bulb — for light
  20. game — wild animals
  21. degree — an amount
  22. fan — to cool the air
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. degree — temperature

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