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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. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  19. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  20. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  21. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. pop — soda
  3. land — to come down
  4. land — ground
  5. game — a match
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. pop — to visit
  8. degree — from a university
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. current — happening now
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. can — a tin
  13. degree — temperature
  14. spell — letters
  15. can — to be able to
  16. spell — a short time
  17. land — a country
  18. spell — magic
  19. current — electric
  20. pop — music
  21. current — of water
  22. game — wild animals
  23. can — a tin
  24. bat — the animal

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