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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  7. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  14. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  15. This piece is in a major ________________.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  23. That was ________________ to happen.
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. hand — in cards
  3. staff — employees
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. degree — an amount
  6. key — the most important part
  7. staff — employees
  8. degree — temperature
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. wake — a trail
  11. bound — obliged
  12. content — happy
  13. squash — the sport
  14. key — for a lock
  15. key — in music
  16. hand — help
  17. bound — tied together
  18. content — the amount
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. squash — the vegetable
  21. squash — to crush
  22. staff — a stick
  23. bound — certain
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

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