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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 120 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 want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  12. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  17. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  18. I'll be taking the ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  22. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  23. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. tube — a container
  3. lean — to rest against
  4. degree — from a university
  5. race — a contest
  6. race — humankind
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. chest — of your body
  9. chest — of your body
  10. hand — help
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. bowl — to roll
  13. race — the arms race
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. lean — to bend
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. tube — the underground
  19. degree — temperature
  20. chest — a box
  21. bowl — a football final
  22. lean — thin
  23. bowl — a dish
  24. hand — in cards

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