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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 116 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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  16. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  22. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. lie — an untruth
  3. degree — temperature
  4. band — a ring
  5. kid — child
  6. lie — to recline
  7. degree — an amount
  8. lean — thin
  9. degree — from a university
  10. lie — an untruth
  11. band — a music group
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. tear — from crying
  14. tear — to rip
  15. pit — a fruit stone
  16. lean — to rest against
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. cold — not warm
  19. kid — to tease
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. lean — to bend
  22. pit — a hole
  23. pit — in a race
  24. tear — from crying

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