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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 120 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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. track — a path
  3. stem — to come from
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. land — a country
  6. degree — temperature
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. degree — an amount
  11. track — a song
  12. degree — from a university
  13. land — ground
  14. kid — to tease
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. track — to keep track
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. land — to come down
  22. kid — child
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. game — wild animals

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