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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. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. degree — from a university
  3. vault — in gymnastics
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. stem — a stem cell
  6. field — a subject
  7. degree — temperature
  8. wind — moving air
  9. wind — moving air
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. field — farmland
  13. vault — an arched ceiling
  14. kid — child
  15. fall — to drop
  16. fall — to drop
  17. stem — to come from
  18. fall — the season
  19. degree — an amount
  20. field — for sport
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. vault — a safe
  23. kid — to tease
  24. hide — animal skin

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