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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 120 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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. tear — from crying
  3. race — a contest
  4. pit — a fruit stone
  5. degree — from a university
  6. pit — a hole
  7. net — after costs
  8. fork — in a road
  9. file — a tool
  10. race — humankind
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. tear — from crying
  13. net — for catching
  14. race — the arms race
  15. tear — to rip
  16. pit — in a race
  17. file — a line of people
  18. bat — the animal
  19. degree — temperature
  20. degree — an amount
  21. net — in sport
  22. file — a document
  23. fork — a garden tool
  24. bat — for baseball

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