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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: bore · degree · chest · prune · snap · cap · race · lie

  1. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  19. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  20. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. cap — a hat
  3. lie — to recline
  4. prune — to trim
  5. lie — an untruth
  6. race — humankind
  7. snap — to click
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. prune — to trim
  10. degree — temperature
  11. chest — of your body
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. chest — of your body
  14. cap — of ice
  15. degree — an amount
  16. bore — to drill
  17. race — the arms race
  18. bore — gave birth
  19. bore — to tire
  20. lie — an untruth
  21. degree — from a university
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. chest — a box
  24. cap — a lid

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