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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. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  19. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  20. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. tear — to rip
  3. degree — an amount
  4. cell — a phone
  5. tear — from crying
  6. firm — steady
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. cold — not warm
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. current — electric
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. degree — from a university
  14. bat — the animal
  15. tear — from crying
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. cold — an illness
  18. current — happening now
  19. current — of water
  20. firm — a company
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. degree — temperature
  23. cell — in biology
  24. firm — decided

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