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

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  16. We're almost out of ________________.
  17. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  18. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  19. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  23. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  24. Many English words ________________ from Latin.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. chest — of your body
  3. land — a country
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. root — of a plant
  6. degree — from a university
  7. cold — not warm
  8. pop — music
  9. pop — to visit
  10. degree — temperature
  11. land — ground
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. cold — an illness
  14. chest — a box
  15. ruler — a monarch
  16. pop — soda
  17. root — of a word
  18. root — the cause
  19. stem — of a plant
  20. land — to come down
  21. chest — of your body
  22. ruler — for measuring
  23. ruler — for measuring
  24. stem — to come from

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