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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. ruler — for measuring
  4. file — a line of people
  5. kid — to tease
  6. file — a tool
  7. cold — an illness
  8. cold — not warm
  9. present — the time now
  10. degree — temperature
  11. chest — a box
  12. kid — child
  13. degree — an amount
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. present — there
  16. file — a document
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. bat — the animal
  19. present — a gift
  20. chest — of your body
  21. ruler — for measuring
  22. degree — from a university
  23. ruler — a monarch
  24. chest — of your body

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