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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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  9. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  10. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  11. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  14. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  15. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  16. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. cell — a phone
  3. rest — what's left
  4. cell — in biology
  5. jam — to spread on bread
  6. race — humankind
  7. degree — from a university
  8. root — the cause
  9. fan — to cool the air
  10. jam — a tight spot
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. race — the arms race
  13. rest — what's left
  14. rest — a break
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. root — of a word
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. jam — in traffic
  19. hand — in cards
  20. hand — help
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. degree — temperature
  23. race — a contest
  24. root — of a plant

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