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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. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. Have you settled on a ________________?
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  24. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. kid — to tease
  4. degree — an amount
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. fall — to drop
  7. race — the arms race
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. can — a tin
  10. court — of law
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. kid — child
  13. date — the fruit
  14. court — for sport
  15. race — a contest
  16. degree — temperature
  17. fall — the season
  18. fall — to drop
  19. court — of a king
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. degree — from a university
  23. can — to be able to
  24. can — a tin

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