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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  8. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  11. What do you think of the new ________________?
  12. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  18. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. race — humankind
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. chip — to eat
  5. race — a contest
  6. degree — from a university
  7. cabinet — ministers
  8. dip — a sauce
  9. swing — to play on
  10. dip — to dunk
  11. cabinet — ministers
  12. chip — in a computer
  13. bark — to shout
  14. spring — of water
  15. degree — temperature
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. dip — to sink
  18. cabinet — a cupboard
  19. swing — music
  20. swing — in golf
  21. race — the arms race
  22. spring — the season
  23. chip — for betting
  24. spring — a coil

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