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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. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. What do you think of the new ________________?
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. chest — a box
  3. degree — an amount
  4. last — finally
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. chest — of your body
  7. race — a contest
  8. degree — from a university
  9. tear — from crying
  10. last — final
  11. cabinet — a cupboard
  12. last — to go on
  13. content — happy
  14. degree — temperature
  15. race — humankind
  16. cabinet — ministers
  17. tear — from crying
  18. tear — to rip
  19. race — the arms race
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. hand — help
  22. chest — of your body
  23. hand — in cards
  24. content — the amount

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