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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. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. Don't do anything ________________.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  13. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  14. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — to crush
  2. hand — help
  3. chest — of your body
  4. degree — an amount
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. degree — from a university
  7. rash — hasty
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. pitch — a sports field
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. ruler — for measuring
  13. ruler — a monarch
  14. pitch — completely
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. ruler — for measuring
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. sharp — clever
  19. degree — temperature
  20. chest — of your body
  21. chest — a box
  22. squash — the sport
  23. hand — in cards
  24. rash — a series

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