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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: racket · race · face · content · snap · fall · cell · degree

  1. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. He hit the ball with his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. content — happy
  3. content — the amount
  4. snap — to click
  5. degree — an amount
  6. face — to point toward
  7. race — humankind
  8. degree — from a university
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. fall — the season
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. cell — in biology
  14. race — a contest
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. face — to confront
  18. fall — to drop
  19. face — part of the head
  20. cell — a phone
  21. racket — a loud noise
  22. degree — temperature
  23. race — the arms race
  24. racket — for tennis

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