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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. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  9. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. I'll be taking the ________________.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. She's very handy with a ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. tube — a container
  3. vault — in gymnastics
  4. mine — for digging
  5. saw — past of 'see'
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. cell — a phone
  8. pit — a hole
  9. vault — an arched ceiling
  10. degree — an amount
  11. tube — in a tire
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. swing — music
  15. swing — to play on
  16. vault — a safe
  17. swing — in golf
  18. tube — the underground
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. pit — in a race
  21. saw — the tool
  22. saw — the tool
  23. cell — in biology
  24. degree — temperature

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