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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. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. Where did you ________________ them?
  13. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  21. You don't need to ________________ round.
  22. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. He refilled his coffee ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — government
  2. pop — soda
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. bat — the animal
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. wound — an injury
  7. degree — temperature
  8. rule — to rule out
  9. chest — of your body
  10. game — wild animals
  11. game — a match
  12. mug — to rob
  13. mug — a face
  14. chest — a box
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. wound — an injury
  17. chest — of your body
  18. degree — from a university
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. pop — music
  21. pop — to visit
  22. rule — a law
  23. degree — an amount
  24. mug — a cup

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