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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  3. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  10. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  21. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  24. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. cue — a hint
  3. stem — of a plant
  4. kid — to tease
  5. game — a match
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. chip — to eat
  8. kid — child
  9. cue — for pool
  10. rule — government
  11. game — wild animals
  12. degree — temperature
  13. chip — for betting
  14. row — to paddle
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. row — a line
  17. cue — a signal
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. degree — an amount
  20. chip — in a computer
  21. rule — to rule out
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. stem — to come from
  24. rule — a law

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