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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  6. She's very handy with a ________________.
  7. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  8. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  9. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. Have you met the new head ________________?
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  19. He works in a ________________ mill.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  24. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. rock — music
  3. chest — of your body
  4. chest — of your body
  5. deal — to handle
  6. saw — the tool
  7. deal — an agreement
  8. cap — a lid
  9. rock — to move gently
  10. degree — temperature
  11. saw — past of 'see'
  12. cap — a hat
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. land — to come down
  15. rock — a stone
  16. chest — a box
  17. land — a country
  18. coach — pulled by horses
  19. saw — the tool
  20. land — ground
  21. cap — of ice
  22. degree — from a university
  23. deal — a big deal
  24. coach — a trainer

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