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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. There's no middle ________________.
  2. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  10. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  20. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. He's quite ________________, isn't he?

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. racket — a loud noise
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. degree — from a university
  6. degree — temperature
  7. mine — for digging
  8. net — after costs
  9. present — there
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. ground — crushed
  14. net — for catching
  15. net — in sport
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. present — a gift
  18. bat — the animal
  19. racket — for tennis
  20. present — the time now
  21. ground — the earth
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. degree — an amount
  24. sharp — clever

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