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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  7. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. mate — a partner
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. cap — a hat
  5. race — a contest
  6. cap — of ice
  7. cap — a lid
  8. wake — a trail
  9. file — a document
  10. file — a line of people
  11. degree — from a university
  12. stem — to come from
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. race — humankind
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. degree — temperature
  17. race — the arms race
  18. mate — to breed
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. stem — a stem cell
  21. mate — a friend
  22. file — a tool
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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