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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 got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  6. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  11. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. Have you settled on a ________________?
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. hand — help
  3. rule — a law
  4. track — to keep track
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. rule — to rule out
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. track — a song
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. date — the fruit
  11. track — a path
  12. degree — temperature
  13. degree — an amount
  14. rule — government
  15. row — to paddle
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. game — a match
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. row — a line
  20. kid — to tease
  21. game — wild animals
  22. degree — from a university
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. kid — child

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