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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. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  3. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. We're on a ________________ here.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  18. This piece is in a major ________________.
  19. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. key — for a lock
  3. key — the most important part
  4. chest — a box
  5. degree — from a university
  6. degree — temperature
  7. field — for sport
  8. field — a subject
  9. race — a contest
  10. degree — an amount
  11. content — the amount
  12. roll — on a roll
  13. hand — in cards
  14. chest — of your body
  15. race — humankind
  16. chest — of your body
  17. roll — a cake
  18. key — in music
  19. roll — a list
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. race — the arms race
  22. hand — help
  23. field — farmland
  24. content — happy

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