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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. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. When was this ________________ built?
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  15. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  18. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  19. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. My father caught me by the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. degree — from a university
  3. race — humankind
  4. face — to point toward
  5. chest — of your body
  6. chair — a leader
  7. degree — an amount
  8. temple — a place of worship
  9. face — part of the head
  10. race — a contest
  11. pound — a weight
  12. chest — of your body
  13. face — to confront
  14. pound — for dogs
  15. arm — a part of something
  16. race — the arms race
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. pound — to hit hard
  19. temple — side of the head
  20. degree — temperature
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. chest — a box
  24. arm — part of the body

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