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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  4. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  12. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  21. The ________________ took off on time.
  22. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. net — for catching
  3. plane — in geometry
  4. bore — gave birth
  5. degree — from a university
  6. kid — to tease
  7. degree — temperature
  8. file — a document
  9. bore — to tire
  10. net — in sport
  11. bore — to drill
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. net — after costs
  14. capital — a city
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. file — a tool
  18. capital — money
  19. file — a line of people
  20. plane — a tool
  21. plane — an aircraft
  22. patient — calm and waiting
  23. kid — child
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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