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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. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  7. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  17. Have you found your soul ________________?
  18. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  19. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  20. When was this ________________ built?
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — to breed
  2. degree — an amount
  3. tear — to rip
  4. current — of water
  5. chest — of your body
  6. deal — to handle
  7. deal — a big deal
  8. spring — the season
  9. current — electric
  10. tear — from crying
  11. tear — from crying
  12. temple — side of the head
  13. degree — from a university
  14. chest — a box
  15. spring — a coil
  16. mate — a friend
  17. mate — a partner
  18. current — happening now
  19. deal — an agreement
  20. temple — a place of worship
  21. degree — temperature
  22. spring — of water
  23. temple — a place of worship
  24. chest — of your body

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