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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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  24. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. degree — from a university
  3. root — of a word
  4. tube — the underground
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. row — a line
  7. tube — a container
  8. content — the amount
  9. drill — the tool
  10. drill — a practice
  11. tube — in a tire
  12. row — to paddle
  13. root — the cause
  14. degree — temperature
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. degree — an amount
  17. cold — not warm
  18. root — of a plant
  19. squash — to crush
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. drill — army training
  22. cold — an illness
  23. content — happy
  24. squash — the vegetable

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