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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 116 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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. That was ________________ to happen.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  24. That must've been a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. capital — money
  4. degree — temperature
  5. bound — certain
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. capital — a city
  8. kid — child
  9. kid — to tease
  10. bound — obliged
  11. wound — an injury
  12. bound — tied together
  13. scale — size or range
  14. scale — in music
  15. wound — an injury
  16. hide — animal skin
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. rush — hurry
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. degree — from a university
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. rush — to hurry
  24. rush — a thrill

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