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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. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. safe — out of danger
  3. wound — an injury
  4. cap — a lid
  5. wound — an injury
  6. cap — a hat
  7. band — a music group
  8. safe — a strongbox
  9. cell — in biology
  10. race — a contest
  11. race — humankind
  12. race — the arms race
  13. safe — out of danger
  14. court — for sport
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. cell — a phone
  19. cap — of ice
  20. degree — from a university
  21. court — of a king
  22. court — of law
  23. degree — temperature
  24. band — a ring

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