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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  7. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  8. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. hand — help
  3. wave — with your hand
  4. ground — a position
  5. face — part of the head
  6. wave — a sudden rise
  7. stem — of a plant
  8. stem — to come from
  9. ground — the earth
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. chest — a box
  12. wave — of the sea
  13. capital — money
  14. ground — crushed
  15. degree — from a university
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. face — to confront
  18. capital — a city
  19. chest — of your body
  20. face — to point toward
  21. degree — temperature
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. chest — of your body
  24. hand — in cards

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