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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. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  17. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  20. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  21. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. chip — for betting
  3. degree — an amount
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. degree — from a university
  6. kid — child
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. march — music
  9. row — to paddle
  10. kid — to tease
  11. pound — to hit hard
  12. degree — temperature
  13. march — the month
  14. chip — to eat
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. kick — a thrill
  17. kick — in football
  18. pound — a weight
  19. kick — with a leg
  20. pound — for dogs
  21. wake — a trail
  22. row — a line
  23. chip — in a computer
  24. march — the month

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