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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: degree · season · bat · file · cell · race

  1. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Did you ________________ the meat?
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. degree — from a university
  3. season — to add flavour
  4. bat — the animal
  5. file — a line of people
  6. cell — in biology
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. file — a document
  9. race — a contest
  10. cell — a phone
  11. race — the arms race
  12. season — of the year
  13. degree — temperature
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. race — humankind
  17. degree — an amount
  18. season — in sport

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