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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. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. The ________________ took off on time.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. race — a contest
  3. degree — an amount
  4. plane — a tool
  5. clip — a video
  6. kid — to tease
  7. last — to go on
  8. degree — from a university
  9. plane — in geometry
  10. race — the arms race
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. last — final
  13. race — humankind
  14. capital — money
  15. clip — for paper
  16. last — finally
  17. capital — a city
  18. degree — temperature
  19. clip — to cut
  20. plane — an aircraft
  21. stem — to come from
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. kid — child

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