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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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  7. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  13. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. Don't do anything ________________.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. degree — temperature
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. game — wild animals
  5. squash — to crush
  6. calf — of the leg
  7. calf — a young animal
  8. squash — the sport
  9. craft — a handicraft
  10. game — a match
  11. cold — not warm
  12. craft — a skill
  13. craft — boats
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. degree — an amount
  17. calf — a young animal
  18. cold — an illness
  19. wound — an injury
  20. squash — the vegetable
  21. wound — an injury
  22. degree — from a university
  23. rash — hasty
  24. rash — a series

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