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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  20. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. degree — from a university
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. wound — an injury
  6. rest — what's left
  7. ground — a position
  8. rest — what's left
  9. stock — shares
  10. ground — the earth
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. cap — of ice
  13. stock — goods
  14. degree — temperature
  15. chest — a box
  16. kick — in football
  17. wound — an injury
  18. chest — of your body
  19. rest — a break
  20. cap — a hat
  21. chest — of your body
  22. ground — crushed
  23. cap — a lid
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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