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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. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  11. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  24. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.

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

Answer key

  1. safe — out of danger
  2. degree — an amount
  3. kick — with a leg
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. safe — out of danger
  6. spell — a short time
  7. kick — a thrill
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. degree — from a university
  10. safe — a strongbox
  11. kick — in football
  12. file — a document
  13. spell — letters
  14. spell — magic
  15. file — a line of people
  16. kid — to tease
  17. track — a path
  18. degree — temperature
  19. kid — child
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. bat — the animal
  22. file — a tool
  23. track — to keep track
  24. track — a song

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