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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  16. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. spell — letters
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. degree — an amount
  7. drill — the tool
  8. game — wild animals
  9. wake — a trail
  10. face — to point toward
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. degree — temperature
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. perch — the fish
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. game — a match
  18. face — to confront
  19. spell — a short time
  20. spell — magic
  21. drill — a practice
  22. face — part of the head
  23. drill — army training
  24. perch — for a bird

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