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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: pound · degree · ground · hand · squash · present · race · fork

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  19. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  23. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. hand — in cards
  4. ground — the earth
  5. squash — to crush
  6. degree — from a university
  7. squash — the sport
  8. squash — the vegetable
  9. race — the arms race
  10. race — humankind
  11. present — the time now
  12. race — a contest
  13. ground — a position
  14. ground — crushed
  15. hand — help
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. present — there
  19. pound — to hit hard
  20. degree — temperature
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. pound — a weight
  23. present — a gift
  24. fork — in a road

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