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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. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. When will it ________________ you to start?
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  17. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  18. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. suit — in cards
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. degree — an amount
  4. suit — to fit
  5. ground — a position
  6. game — wild animals
  7. ground — the earth
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. degree — temperature
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. degree — from a university
  12. ground — crushed
  13. stick — a piece of wood
  14. kid — child
  15. game — a match
  16. stick — to attach or keep to
  17. stick — a piece of wood
  18. suit — clothes
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. band — a music group
  22. band — a ring
  23. mine — for digging
  24. kid — to tease

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