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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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468
Word bank
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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 am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  9. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  22. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  23. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  24. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. object — an aim
  4. race — a contest
  5. degree — from a university
  6. kid — child
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. object — to protest
  9. mouse — for a computer
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. race — the arms race
  12. kid — to tease
  13. prune — to trim
  14. prune — to trim
  15. fan — to cool the air
  16. degree — temperature
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. race — humankind
  20. snap — to click
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. mouse — the animal
  23. mouse — the animal
  24. object — a thing

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