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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  21. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. bark — to shout
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. kick — with a leg
  6. degree — temperature
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. wax — to grow
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. kick — in football
  11. snap — to click
  12. bowl — a football final
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. bowl — a dish
  15. degree — from a university
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. bowl — to roll
  18. chip — for betting
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. chip — in a computer
  21. chip — to eat
  22. bat — the animal
  23. wax — for sculpting
  24. bat — for baseball

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