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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. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  14. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  15. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  18. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. kid — child
  3. deal — an agreement
  4. kid — to tease
  5. spring — a coil
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. pitch — a sports field
  8. degree — temperature
  9. pitch — completely
  10. race — the arms race
  11. tear — to rip
  12. spring — the season
  13. lie — an untruth
  14. lie — to recline
  15. deal — a big deal
  16. tear — from crying
  17. lie — an untruth
  18. pitch — a sales talk
  19. race — humankind
  20. deal — to handle
  21. spring — of water
  22. race — a contest
  23. degree — from a university
  24. degree — an 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