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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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  8. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  9. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  10. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  16. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  21. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  22. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. degree — from a university
  3. cell — in biology
  4. degree — an amount
  5. degree — temperature
  6. game — wild animals
  7. cue — a hint
  8. mark — to pay attention
  9. mark — a grade
  10. rock — music
  11. cold — an illness
  12. file — a tool
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. file — a document
  15. mark — a trace
  16. rock — a stone
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. cold — not warm
  19. cell — a phone
  20. cue — a signal
  21. rock — to move gently
  22. cue — for pool
  23. game — a match
  24. file — a line of people

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