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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  4. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  20. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. tear — from crying
  3. vault — a safe
  4. fine — high quality
  5. tear — from crying
  6. pit — in a race
  7. capital — money
  8. capital — a city
  9. degree — from a university
  10. fine — a penalty
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. vault — an arched ceiling
  13. tear — to rip
  14. chest — a box
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. pit — a hole
  17. chest — of your body
  18. degree — temperature
  19. fine — all right
  20. vault — in gymnastics
  21. chest — of your body
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. pit — a fruit stone
  24. capital — a big letter

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