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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 120 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. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. She's very handy with a ________________.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. lean — to rest against
  3. tube — the underground
  4. lean — to bend
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. game — a match
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. ground — the earth
  10. tube — a container
  11. degree — an amount
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. band — a music group
  14. game — wild animals
  15. saw — the tool
  16. saw — the tool
  17. degree — temperature
  18. ground — a position
  19. band — a ring
  20. stock — goods
  21. stock — shares
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. lean — thin
  24. ground — crushed

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