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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. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. Have you settled on a ________________?
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  16. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. What do you think of the new ________________?
  21. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. date — the fruit
  2. sharp — clever
  3. chest — of your body
  4. race — a contest
  5. race — the arms race
  6. race — humankind
  7. kick — a thrill
  8. degree — an amount
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. degree — temperature
  12. chest — a box
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. capital — money
  15. cabinet — ministers
  16. cabinet — a cupboard
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. kick — in football
  22. chest — of your body
  23. degree — from a university
  24. capital — a city

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