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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've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  6. This piece is in a major ________________.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  12. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  13. Have you settled on a ________________?
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  24. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — a short time
  2. court — of law
  3. degree — from a university
  4. mine — for digging
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. key — in music
  7. file — a tool
  8. spell — letters
  9. file — a line of people
  10. spell — magic
  11. key — for a lock
  12. key — the most important part
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. chip — to eat
  16. file — a document
  17. court — of a king
  18. degree — temperature
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. chip — in a computer
  21. court — for sport
  22. degree — an amount
  23. chip — for betting
  24. date — the fruit

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