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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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Word bank
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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 · track · press · trunk · degree · mate · fall · hide

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  7. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  11. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  12. Have you found your soul ________________?
  13. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  19. Did you ________________ the button?
  20. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  24. 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. degree — an amount
  2. fall — to drop
  3. fall — to drop
  4. track — a path
  5. race — a contest
  6. track — to keep track
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. race — humankind
  9. degree — temperature
  10. press — a publisher
  11. hide — animal skin
  12. mate — a partner
  13. mate — a friend
  14. fall — the season
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. degree — from a university
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. press — to push
  20. mate — to breed
  21. press — newspapers
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. track — a song
  24. 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