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

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  5. What do you think of the new ________________?
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. race — humankind
  4. rest — a break
  5. cabinet — ministers
  6. degree — from a university
  7. degree — temperature
  8. rest — what's left
  9. race — a contest
  10. kid — to tease
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. degree — an amount
  13. content — happy
  14. cabinet — a cupboard
  15. content — the amount
  16. rest — what's left
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. race — the arms race

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