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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  5. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  15. The ________________ took off on time.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  19. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. I've got the luggage in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. game — wild animals
  3. degree — an amount
  4. vault — a safe
  5. plane — a tool
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. vault — in gymnastics
  8. sharp — clever
  9. race — humankind
  10. race — the arms race
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. plane — in geometry
  15. plane — an aircraft
  16. race — a contest
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. trunk — of an elephant
  19. vault — an arched ceiling
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. degree — temperature
  22. bat — the animal
  23. game — a match
  24. trunk — of a car

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