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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: nail · hand · chest · straw · leaves · degree · kick · race

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. The ________________ went through the wall.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  19. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. degree — an amount
  3. leaves — of a tree
  4. chest — a box
  5. hand — help
  6. chest — of your body
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. degree — from a university
  10. kick — in football
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. degree — temperature
  14. hand — in cards
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. nail — on a finger
  19. leaves — to go away
  20. race — humankind
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. race — a contest
  23. race — the arms race
  24. leaves — lets stay

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