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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. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  17. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. degree — from a university
  3. stick — to attach or keep to
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. pit — a hole
  7. snap — to click
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. stick — a piece of wood
  10. degree — temperature
  11. capital — money
  12. pit — in a race
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. degree — an amount
  15. hand — in cards
  16. pit — a fruit stone
  17. stick — a piece of wood
  18. band — a music group
  19. capital — a city
  20. hand — help
  21. fork — in a road
  22. band — a ring
  23. fork — a garden tool
  24. band — a rubber band

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