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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. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  3. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. That was ________________ to happen.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  17. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. fork — in a road
  3. trunk — of a tree
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. bound — certain
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. degree — temperature
  9. tear — from crying
  10. degree — from a university
  11. chest — of your body
  12. trunk — of a car
  13. chest — a box
  14. cold — an illness
  15. content — happy
  16. bound — tied together
  17. bound — obliged
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. tear — to rip
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. tear — from crying
  22. chest — of your body
  23. cold — not warm
  24. content — the amount

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