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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. Have you settled on a ________________?
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  16. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  17. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  21. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  22. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  23. Don't do anything ________________.
  24. I've got the luggage in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. squash — to crush
  3. degree — an amount
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. squash — the sport
  6. can — to be able to
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. cell — a phone
  10. degree — temperature
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. content — happy
  14. cell — in biology
  15. can — a tin
  16. date — the fruit
  17. rash — a series
  18. content — the amount
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. can — a tin
  22. squash — the vegetable
  23. rash — hasty
  24. trunk — of a car

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