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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 120 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 had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  7. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. The ________________ took off on time.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — to paddle
  2. stem — to come from
  3. degree — from a university
  4. degree — temperature
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. pit — a hole
  7. plane — in geometry
  8. degree — an amount
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. snap — to click
  12. chest — of your body
  13. plane — an aircraft
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. plane — a tool
  16. cold — an illness
  17. chest — a box
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. pit — in a race
  20. row — a line
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. pit — a fruit stone
  23. chest — of your body
  24. cold — not warm

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