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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  3. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  8. That must've been a ________________.
  9. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  16. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  17. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. dip — to dunk
  3. pitch — completely
  4. degree — an amount
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. degree — from a university
  7. dip — to sink
  8. rush — a thrill
  9. rush — hurry
  10. chest — of your body
  11. wake — to stop sleeping
  12. chest — a box
  13. land — a country
  14. chest — of your body
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. pitch — a sports field
  17. wake — before a funeral
  18. wake — a trail
  19. dip — a sauce
  20. perch — the fish
  21. land — to come down
  22. rush — to hurry
  23. degree — temperature
  24. perch — for a bird

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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