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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. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  12. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. kid — to tease
  3. race — humankind
  4. last — finally
  5. cell — a phone
  6. march — the month
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. kid — child
  9. racket — a loud noise
  10. race — the arms race
  11. dip — to sink
  12. dip — to dunk
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. march — the month
  15. degree — from a university
  16. last — to go on
  17. cell — in biology
  18. last — final
  19. march — music
  20. dip — a sauce
  21. degree — an amount
  22. racket — for tennis
  23. degree — temperature
  24. race — a contest

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