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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  7. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  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. bat — for baseball
  2. stem — to come from
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. ground — the earth
  5. content — the amount
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. stem — a stem cell
  8. degree — an amount
  9. content — happy
  10. swing — to play on
  11. ground — a position
  12. ground — crushed
  13. swing — music
  14. degree — temperature
  15. chest — a box
  16. chest — of your body
  17. swing — in golf
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. degree — from a university
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. bat — the animal
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. fan — to cool the air
  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