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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. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  6. I can't ________________ this cold.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  15. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. That must've been a ________________.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  24. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. race — a contest
  4. degree — from a university
  5. foot — a measure
  6. stand — to bear
  7. race — the arms race
  8. rush — hurry
  9. race — humankind
  10. degree — temperature
  11. mine — for digging
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. stand — for spectators
  15. foot — the bottom
  16. field — a subject
  17. field — farmland
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. rush — a thrill
  20. field — for sport
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. degree — an amount
  23. foot — part of the body
  24. stand — on your feet

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