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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  4. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. Don't do anything ________________.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. mouse — the animal
  4. leaves — to go away
  5. sharp — clever
  6. last — final
  7. hand — in cards
  8. mouse — the animal
  9. hand — help
  10. rash — a series
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. degree — temperature
  13. last — finally
  14. leaves — of a tree
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. leaves — lets stay
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. last — to go on
  21. rash — hasty
  22. degree — from a university
  23. mouse — for a computer
  24. sharp — exactly

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