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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: fork · rest · content · degree · ball · wind · cue · sharp

  1. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  6. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  7. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. rest — what's left
  3. sharp — clever
  4. degree — from a university
  5. rest — what's left
  6. rest — a break
  7. cue — for pool
  8. ball — a dance
  9. ball — a great time
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. degree — an amount
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. wind — moving air
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. fork — in a road
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. cue — a hint
  19. wind — moving air
  20. content — the amount
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. content — happy
  23. cue — a signal
  24. degree — temperature

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