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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'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  11. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. chest — of your body
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. degree — an amount
  5. pitch — completely
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. kid — child
  8. land — a country
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. board — to get on
  11. board — a committee
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. degree — from a university
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. sharp — clever
  16. scale — in music
  17. chest — a box
  18. scale — size or range
  19. degree — temperature
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. board — a flat piece
  22. kid — to tease
  23. land — to come down
  24. chest — of your 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