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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  16. Have you found your soul ________________?
  17. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  18. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  24. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. degree — temperature
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. land — a country
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. squash — to crush
  8. land — to come down
  9. dip — to dunk
  10. game — wild animals
  11. bat — the animal
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. land — ground
  14. game — a match
  15. mate — to breed
  16. mate — a partner
  17. squash — the sport
  18. dip — to sink
  19. degree — from a university
  20. degree — an amount
  21. mate — a friend
  22. rash — a series
  23. dip — a sauce
  24. squash — the vegetable

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