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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. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  2. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  3. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  4. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. net — for catching
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. racket — a loud noise
  4. ruler — a monarch
  5. net — in sport
  6. cold — not warm
  7. ruler — for measuring
  8. pitch — completely
  9. degree — temperature
  10. net — after costs
  11. race — humankind
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. race — a contest
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. bark — to shout
  16. degree — from a university
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. pitch — a sales talk
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. cold — an illness
  22. ruler — for measuring
  23. race — the arms race
  24. degree — an amount

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