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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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. Have you settled on a ________________?
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  6. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. That must've been a ________________.
  21. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. kid — child
  4. chest — of your body
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. rush — to hurry
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. kid — to tease
  10. perch — the fish
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. chair — a leader
  13. fall — to drop
  14. fall — to drop
  15. rush — hurry
  16. chest — a box
  17. degree — from a university
  18. date — the fruit
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. rush — a thrill
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. degree — an amount
  23. fall — the season
  24. chest — of your body

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