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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  8. Don't do anything ________________.
  9. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. That must've been a ________________.
  12. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  20. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. Take your time. There's no ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. degree — an amount
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. net — after costs
  5. degree — temperature
  6. face — to confront
  7. rush — to hurry
  8. rash — hasty
  9. dip — to sink
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. rush — a thrill
  12. dip — to dunk
  13. field — farmland
  14. rash — a series
  15. sharp — clever
  16. field — a subject
  17. face — part of the head
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. face — to point toward
  20. dip — a sauce
  21. net — for catching
  22. field — for sport
  23. net — in sport
  24. rush — hurry

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