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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. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — for dogs
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. bat — the animal
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. pit — a hole
  6. degree — an amount
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. file — a tool
  9. row — a line
  10. kid — to tease
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. pit — in a race
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. pit — a fruit stone
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. degree — temperature
  18. row — to paddle
  19. kid — child
  20. file — a line of people
  21. degree — from a university
  22. file — a document
  23. pound — a weight
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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