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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. When was this ________________ built?
  6. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  7. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  21. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. degree — an amount
  4. chest — of your body
  5. temple — a place of worship
  6. cap — of ice
  7. lean — thin
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. hand — in cards
  10. chest — a box
  11. row — to paddle
  12. cap — a hat
  13. chest — of your body
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. row — a line
  16. temple — side of the head
  17. band — a ring
  18. lean — to rest against
  19. degree — from a university
  20. cap — a lid
  21. temple — a place of worship
  22. band — a music group
  23. degree — temperature
  24. lean — to bend

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