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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 120 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. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. The ________________ went through the wall.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  21. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. game — a match
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. nail — on a finger
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. degree — an amount
  7. file — a document
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. degree — from a university
  11. sharp — clever
  12. game — wild animals
  13. degree — temperature
  14. file — a tool
  15. object — a thing
  16. content — happy
  17. content — the amount
  18. capital — money
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. object — an aim
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. capital — a city
  23. file — a line of people
  24. object — to protest

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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