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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  16. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  17. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. I'll be taking the ________________.
  21. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  22. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  23. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. drill — army training
  3. cold — an illness
  4. drill — the tool
  5. pit — a hole
  6. cold — not warm
  7. game — a match
  8. fine — a penalty
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. degree — an amount
  11. degree — temperature
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. fine — high quality
  14. drill — a practice
  15. pit — a fruit stone
  16. fine — all right
  17. pit — in a race
  18. wake — before a funeral
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. tube — the underground
  21. wake — a trail
  22. tube — a container
  23. tube — in a tire
  24. game — wild animals

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