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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. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  3. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  12. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  15. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  23. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. lie — an untruth
  3. root — of a word
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. degree — an amount
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. lie — to recline
  8. swing — to play on
  9. swing — in golf
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. racket — a loud noise
  13. fork — in a road
  14. root — the cause
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. swing — music
  19. wound — an injury
  20. kick — in football
  21. degree — temperature
  22. root — of a plant
  23. kick — with a leg
  24. wound — an injury

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