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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 116 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. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  15. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  21. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. pitch — a sales talk
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. stem — of a plant
  5. degree — from a university
  6. wake — a trail
  7. race — a contest
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. race — the arms race
  10. degree — temperature
  11. bark — to shout
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. kick — in football
  15. pitch — completely
  16. bat — the animal
  17. stem — to come from
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. kick — with a leg
  21. wake — before a funeral
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. race — humankind
  24. kick — a thrill

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