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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. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  3. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Can you turn the ________________ on?

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. cue — a hint
  3. foot — a measure
  4. kid — to tease
  5. foot — the bottom
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. chest — a box
  8. foot — part of the body
  9. chest — of your body
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. degree — from a university
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. kid — child
  16. branch — a division
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. degree — an amount
  20. cue — a signal
  21. chest — of your body
  22. cue — for pool
  23. degree — temperature
  24. fan — to cool the air

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