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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  3. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. I can't ________________ this cold.
  8. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  24. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. saw — past of 'see'
  3. foot — part of the body
  4. degree — from a university
  5. bore — gave birth
  6. spring — the season
  7. stand — to bear
  8. bore — to tire
  9. degree — an amount
  10. degree — temperature
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. stand — for spectators
  13. kid — child
  14. file — a document
  15. spring — a coil
  16. foot — a measure
  17. saw — the tool
  18. file — a line of people
  19. spring — of water
  20. foot — the bottom
  21. saw — the tool
  22. file — a tool
  23. bore — to drill
  24. stand — on your feet

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