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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. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. Have you settled on a ________________?
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  18. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  21. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. toast — the most admired
  3. hand — help
  4. cap — a lid
  5. degree — an amount
  6. tear — to rip
  7. wound — an injury
  8. tear — from crying
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. hand — in cards
  11. toast — bread
  12. chest — of your body
  13. cap — of ice
  14. chest — of your body
  15. tear — from crying
  16. wound — an injury
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. date — the fruit
  19. degree — temperature
  20. toast — a drink to someone
  21. cap — a hat
  22. degree — from a university
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. chest — a box

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