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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. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. tear — to rip
  3. net — in sport
  4. object — a thing
  5. tear — from crying
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. bat — the animal
  8. object — an aim
  9. cold — an illness
  10. deal — a big deal
  11. degree — temperature
  12. degree — an amount
  13. cold — not warm
  14. tear — from crying
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. cell — in biology
  17. degree — from a university
  18. deal — to handle
  19. net — after costs
  20. deal — an agreement
  21. net — for catching
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. cell — a phone
  24. object — to protest

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