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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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  4. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  5. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  8. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. Have you met the new head ________________?
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  18. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. wound — an injury
  3. calf — of the leg
  4. rest — what's left
  5. rest — what's left
  6. cap — a lid
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. coach — pulled by horses
  9. cell — a phone
  10. degree — from a university
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. cell — in biology
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. cap — a hat
  16. file — a tool
  17. calf — a young animal
  18. rest — a break
  19. wound — an injury
  20. cap — of ice
  21. file — a line of people
  22. degree — temperature
  23. file — a document
  24. calf — a young animal

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