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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  6. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. degree — temperature
  3. tear — to rip
  4. tear — from crying
  5. wave — with your hand
  6. pitch — a sports field
  7. degree — an amount
  8. drill — a practice
  9. field — for sport
  10. degree — from a university
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. kid — child
  14. wave — of the sea
  15. tear — from crying
  16. kid — to tease
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. field — a subject
  19. wave — a sudden rise
  20. field — farmland
  21. game — a match
  22. drill — the tool
  23. drill — army training
  24. pitch — completely

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