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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. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  4. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  12. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  13. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. mate — a partner
  3. dip — to dunk
  4. chip — to eat
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. dip — to sink
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. degree — from a university
  10. snap — to click
  11. dip — a sauce
  12. mate — to breed
  13. chip — for betting
  14. game — wild animals
  15. chip — in a computer
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. bat — the animal
  18. degree — temperature
  19. game — a match
  20. degree — an amount
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. date — the fruit

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