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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. The tickets are free of ________________.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  13. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  24. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. degree — from a university
  3. charge — a price
  4. content — happy
  5. race — a contest
  6. spell — letters
  7. race — the arms race
  8. spell — a short time
  9. charge — in control
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. spell — magic
  12. charge — electricity
  13. mouse — the animal
  14. cold — an illness
  15. degree — temperature
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. degree — an amount
  19. content — the amount
  20. mouse — for a computer
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. race — humankind
  23. kick — in football
  24. mouse — 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