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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. I can't ________________ this cold.
  4. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  14. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  17. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  18. What do you think of the new ________________?
  19. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  20. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. march — the month
  3. stand — to bear
  4. lash — a whip stroke
  5. chest — of your body
  6. shower — to wash
  7. chest — a box
  8. march — the month
  9. race — the arms race
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. shower — rain
  12. chest — of your body
  13. lash — an eyelash
  14. cabinet — ministers
  15. degree — an amount
  16. lash — to lash out
  17. stand — on your feet
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. cabinet — a cupboard
  20. stand — for spectators
  21. race — a contest
  22. race — humankind
  23. degree — temperature
  24. march — music

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