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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  3. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  4. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  5. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. That must've been a ________________.
  14. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  20. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. rush — to hurry
  3. lie — an untruth
  4. kick — in football
  5. deal — a big deal
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. field — for sport
  8. rush — hurry
  9. field — a subject
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. lie — an untruth
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. rush — a thrill
  14. lie — to recline
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. mine — for digging
  18. cold — not warm
  19. deal — an agreement
  20. deal — to handle
  21. degree — temperature
  22. cold — an illness
  23. field — farmland
  24. degree — an amount

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