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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. What do you think of the new ________________?
  3. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  24. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. patient — calm and waiting
  4. degree — from a university
  5. degree — temperature
  6. scale — in music
  7. cabinet — ministers
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. ground — the earth
  10. pound — a weight
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. race — the arms race
  13. degree — an amount
  14. ground — a position
  15. kid — to tease
  16. race — humankind
  17. race — a contest
  18. pound — to hit hard
  19. ground — crushed
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. scale — size or range
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. cabinet — a cupboard
  24. pound — for dogs

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