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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. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. Have you found your soul ________________?
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. degree — an amount
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. degree — from a university
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. bass — the fish
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. snap — to click
  9. kid — child
  10. kid — to tease
  11. mate — a friend
  12. race — humankind
  13. mate — a partner
  14. race — the arms race
  15. race — a contest
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. bat — the animal
  18. mate — to breed
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. degree — temperature
  22. sharp — clever
  23. bass — low music
  24. bass — the instrument

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