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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 120 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 potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  4. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. The ________________ went through the wall.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  10. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  11. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  16. You don't need to ________________ round.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — to eat
  2. degree — from a university
  3. nail — on a finger
  4. dip — to dunk
  5. degree — an amount
  6. degree — temperature
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. field — a subject
  9. dip — to sink
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. dip — a sauce
  12. game — a match
  13. pop — soda
  14. file — a document
  15. chip — for betting
  16. pop — to visit
  17. pop — music
  18. chip — in a computer
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. game — wild animals
  21. file — a line of people
  22. file — a tool
  23. field — farmland
  24. field — for sport

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