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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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. bear — the animal
  3. content — the amount
  4. wound — an injury
  5. degree — an amount
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. cell — in biology
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. bear — the animal
  10. file — a line of people
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. hand — help
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. degree — from a university
  15. hand — in cards
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. cell — a phone
  18. content — happy
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. wound — an injury
  21. mine — for digging
  22. bear — to put up with
  23. file — a document
  24. file — a tool

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