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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. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  11. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  12. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  13. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. degree — an amount
  3. net — for catching
  4. lash — an eyelash
  5. net — after costs
  6. rule — government
  7. degree — from a university
  8. object — a thing
  9. net — in sport
  10. rule — a law
  11. wake — to stop sleeping
  12. lash — to lash out
  13. object — to protest
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. degree — temperature
  16. lash — a whip stroke
  17. chest — of your body
  18. cold — not warm
  19. wake — a trail
  20. cold — an illness
  21. rule — to rule out
  22. chest — of your body
  23. object — an aim
  24. chest — a box

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