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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. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. mark — a trace
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. fork — to eat with
  6. chest — of your body
  7. chest — a box
  8. chest — of your body
  9. ground — the earth
  10. mark — a grade
  11. ground — crushed
  12. sharp — clever
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. ground — a position
  15. bat — the animal
  16. degree — temperature
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. fork — a garden tool
  20. degree — from a university
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. fork — in a road
  23. mine — for digging
  24. degree — an amount

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