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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  8. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. The King held a masked ________________.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  20. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. tear — to rip
  3. degree — temperature
  4. ball — a great time
  5. lash — an eyelash
  6. tear — from crying
  7. pit — in a race
  8. lash — to lash out
  9. chest — of your body
  10. tear — from crying
  11. race — the arms race
  12. chest — a box
  13. kid — to tease
  14. race — humankind
  15. race — a contest
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. ball — a dance
  18. chest — of your body
  19. pit — a hole
  20. lash — a whip stroke
  21. kid — child
  22. degree — from a university
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. pit — a fruit stone

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