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

Word bank: chest · degree · present · race · tear · deal

  1. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. tear — from crying
  3. deal — an agreement
  4. chest — of your body
  5. present — the time now
  6. tear — to rip
  7. chest — a box
  8. tear — from crying
  9. race — a contest
  10. race — the arms race
  11. degree — from a university
  12. present — there
  13. degree — temperature
  14. deal — a big deal
  15. race — humankind
  16. deal — to handle
  17. degree — an amount
  18. chest — of your body

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