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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Where did you ________________ them?
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  17. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  18. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. mug — to rob
  3. drill — a practice
  4. tube — the underground
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. net — after costs
  7. tube — a container
  8. drill — the tool
  9. content — the amount
  10. net — in sport
  11. net — for catching
  12. file — a tool
  13. mug — a cup
  14. content — happy
  15. degree — from a university
  16. mug — a face
  17. object — an aim
  18. object — a thing
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. degree — temperature
  21. drill — army training
  22. file — a line of people
  23. file — a document
  24. object — to protest

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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