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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. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. We're almost out of ________________.
  24. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — music
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. rest — a break
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. pit — a fruit stone
  6. hand — help
  7. hand — in cards
  8. degree — an amount
  9. rest — what's left
  10. pop — to visit
  11. degree — temperature
  12. rest — what's left
  13. tear — from crying
  14. degree — from a university
  15. tear — to rip
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. kid — child
  20. pit — a hole
  21. tear — from crying
  22. kid — to tease
  23. pop — soda
  24. pit — in a race

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