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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  4. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  9. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  10. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  20. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  21. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. degree — an amount
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. cap — of ice
  7. kid — child
  8. stick — a piece of wood
  9. cap — a hat
  10. stick — to attach or keep to
  11. degree — from a university
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. degree — temperature
  14. tear — to rip
  15. racket — a loud noise
  16. ground — a position
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. tear — from crying
  19. season — of the year
  20. cap — a lid
  21. season — in sport
  22. ground — the earth
  23. tear — from crying
  24. ground — crushed

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