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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. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  14. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. The ________________ went through the wall.
  23. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — on a finger
  2. degree — from a university
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. snap — to click
  5. mouse — the animal
  6. degree — temperature
  7. mouse — for a computer
  8. wake — a trail
  9. mouse — the animal
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. game — a match
  13. pitch — completely
  14. pitch — a sports field
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. wake — before a funeral
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. wound — an injury
  19. wound — an injury
  20. game — wild animals
  21. degree — an amount
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. pitch — a sales talk
  24. game — a kind of play

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