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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. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  2. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. This piece is in a major ________________.
  8. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  16. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  23. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. key — the most important part
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. wound — an injury
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. game — a match
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. key — in music
  8. season — in sport
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. bat — the animal
  11. degree — from a university
  12. game — wild animals
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. hide — to keep secret
  16. hide — animal skin
  17. degree — temperature
  18. wound — an injury
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. sharp — clever
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. key — for a lock
  23. season — of the year
  24. degree — an amount

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