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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  24. Many English words ________________ from Latin.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. stem — of a plant
  3. chest — of your body
  4. kick — in football
  5. shower — to wash
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. shower — rain
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. sharp — clever
  10. degree — temperature
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. chest — a box
  13. ruler — a monarch
  14. degree — an amount
  15. bat — the animal
  16. ruler — for measuring
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. ruler — for measuring
  20. chest — of your body
  21. kick — with a leg
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. kick — a thrill
  24. stem — to come from

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