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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. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  3. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  4. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  10. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. The ________________ went through the wall.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. calf — a young animal
  3. rule — a law
  4. calf — of the leg
  5. mine — for digging
  6. file — a line of people
  7. calf — a young animal
  8. degree — from a university
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. rule — government
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. content — happy
  14. net — after costs
  15. file — a tool
  16. nail — on a finger
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. net — for catching
  19. net — in sport
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. degree — temperature
  23. content — the amount
  24. file — a document

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