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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: trunk · race · degree · stand · face · cold · wound · bat

  1. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  3. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. I can't ________________ this cold.
  9. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. stand — for spectators
  3. trunk — of a tree
  4. wound — an injury
  5. degree — from a university
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. degree — temperature
  8. stand — to bear
  9. stand — on your feet
  10. degree — an amount
  11. wound — an injury
  12. trunk — of a car
  13. face — to point toward
  14. trunk — of an elephant
  15. race — humankind
  16. face — part of the head
  17. race — a contest
  18. cold — an illness
  19. bat — the animal
  20. face — to confront
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. cold — not warm
  23. race — the arms race
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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