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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. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  8. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  20. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  21. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  22. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. What do you think of the new ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. kick — in football
  3. degree — from a university
  4. hand — help
  5. degree — temperature
  6. tear — from crying
  7. track — to keep track
  8. tube — a container
  9. degree — an amount
  10. tear — to rip
  11. tear — from crying
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. chest — a box
  15. chest — of your body
  16. cabinet — a cupboard
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. chest — of your body
  19. track — a path
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. track — a song
  22. kick — with a leg
  23. hand — in cards
  24. cabinet — ministers

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