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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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Word bank
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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: rush · stand · cell · racket · degree · chip · game · wound

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  8. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  11. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  14. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  15. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. I can't ________________ this cold.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. That must've been a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. cell — a phone
  4. chip — to eat
  5. wound — an injury
  6. game — wild animals
  7. rush — hurry
  8. stand — for spectators
  9. degree — an amount
  10. stand — on your feet
  11. rush — to hurry
  12. degree — temperature
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. chip — for betting
  15. chip — in a computer
  16. wound — an injury
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. racket — a loud noise
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. game — a match
  22. stand — to bear
  23. cell — in biology
  24. rush — a thrill

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