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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 116 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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  7. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. degree — from a university
  4. land — a country
  5. land — to come down
  6. pound — a weight
  7. root — the cause
  8. row — to paddle
  9. race — the arms race
  10. vault — in gymnastics
  11. hand — in cards
  12. root — of a word
  13. land — ground
  14. vault — an arched ceiling
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. race — a contest
  18. root — of a plant
  19. row — a line
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. degree — temperature
  22. vault — a safe
  23. degree — an amount
  24. race — humankind

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