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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. shower — to wash
  3. pound — a weight
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. kid — to tease
  6. face — part of the head
  7. saw — the tool
  8. pound — to hit hard
  9. kid — child
  10. face — to point toward
  11. saw — past of 'see'
  12. degree — from a university
  13. chip — in a computer
  14. chest — of your body
  15. shower — rain
  16. chip — for betting
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. chip — to eat
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. chest — of your body
  21. saw — the tool
  22. face — to confront
  23. chest — a box
  24. degree — temperature

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