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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  7. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. cold — not warm
  3. net — for catching
  4. leaves — of a tree
  5. race — the arms race
  6. tube — a container
  7. leaves — to go away
  8. net — after costs
  9. ground — the earth
  10. race — humankind
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. degree — an amount
  13. degree — temperature
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. race — a contest
  16. tube — the underground
  17. net — in sport
  18. saw — past of 'see'
  19. cold — an illness
  20. leaves — lets stay
  21. saw — the tool
  22. saw — the tool
  23. ground — crushed
  24. ground — a position

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