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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: wave · game · bat · racket · foot · degree · drill · wound

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  19. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. game — wild animals
  3. foot — part of the body
  4. wound — an injury
  5. wound — an injury
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. bat — the animal
  9. degree — temperature
  10. racket — a loud noise
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. drill — army training
  14. wave — a sudden rise
  15. drill — the tool
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. drill — a practice
  18. wave — with your hand
  19. foot — a measure
  20. game — a match
  21. degree — an amount
  22. wave — of the sea
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. foot — the bottom

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