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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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. Don't do anything ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  16. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. track — a song
  3. chest — a box
  4. deal — a big deal
  5. chest — of your body
  6. sharp — clever
  7. rash — hasty
  8. cold — an illness
  9. track — a path
  10. land — a country
  11. cold — not warm
  12. deal — an agreement
  13. chest — of your body
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. rash — a series
  16. track — to keep track
  17. land — to come down
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. land — ground
  21. degree — from a university
  22. degree — an amount
  23. deal — to handle
  24. sharp — exactly

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