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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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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: race · chest · mouse · cap · pit · degree

  1. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  6. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  9. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. degree — from a university
  3. mouse — the animal
  4. chest — of your body
  5. cap — a hat
  6. mouse — for a computer
  7. race — a contest
  8. cap — of ice
  9. pit — a hole
  10. cap — a lid
  11. degree — an amount
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. mouse — the animal
  14. degree — temperature
  15. pit — in a race
  16. chest — of your body
  17. chest — a box
  18. race — the arms race

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