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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. We're almost out of ________________.
  2. That was ________________ to happen.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  6. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  10. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. You don't need to ________________ round.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — soda
  2. bound — certain
  3. degree — from a university
  4. degree — temperature
  5. wake — a trail
  6. pit — in a race
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. pop — music
  9. bound — obliged
  10. pit — a fruit stone
  11. game — a match
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. cold — an illness
  14. pit — a hole
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. wake — before a funeral
  19. degree — an amount
  20. mine — for digging
  21. bound — tied together
  22. game — wild animals
  23. pop — to visit
  24. cold — not warm

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