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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. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  2. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  3. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  20. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  21. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. Many English words ________________ from Latin.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — to tire
  2. club — a group
  3. board — a committee
  4. hand — help
  5. degree — an amount
  6. cold — an illness
  7. cold — not warm
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. bore — gave birth
  11. hand — in cards
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. content — happy
  14. board — to get on
  15. degree — temperature
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. bore — to drill
  18. content — the amount
  19. club — for golf
  20. board — a flat piece
  21. club — for dancing
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. degree — from a university
  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