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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 120 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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. game — a match
  3. degree — from a university
  4. game — wild animals
  5. march — the month
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. ground — crushed
  8. march — music
  9. degree — temperature
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. wake — a trail
  12. race — the arms race
  13. race — a contest
  14. object — a thing
  15. hand — in cards
  16. ground — a position
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. object — an aim
  19. degree — an amount
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. march — the month
  22. ground — the earth
  23. object — to protest
  24. race — humankind

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