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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. Don't do anything ________________.
  17. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The tickets are free of ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  22. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. charge — electricity
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. track — to keep track
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. bat — the animal
  7. squash — the sport
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. hand — in cards
  10. rash — a series
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. degree — an amount
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. hand — help
  15. squash — to crush
  16. rash — hasty
  17. charge — in control
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. charge — a price
  20. cold — not warm
  21. track — a path
  22. track — a song
  23. degree — temperature
  24. cold — an illness

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