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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: degree · rule · mate · game · hand · wake · net · race

  1. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  2. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  22. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. net — after costs
  4. hand — help
  5. degree — from a university
  6. mate — a partner
  7. race — a contest
  8. rule — government
  9. degree — an amount
  10. race — humankind
  11. net — in sport
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. game — a match
  15. degree — temperature
  16. net — for catching
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. mate — to breed
  19. race — the arms race
  20. hand — in cards
  21. rule — a law
  22. wake — a trail
  23. game — wild animals
  24. rule — to rule out

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