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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: rush · track · last · degree · race · stick · net · kid

  1. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  5. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  6. That must've been a ________________.
  7. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. stick — a piece of wood
  2. degree — from a university
  3. kid — to tease
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. track — a song
  6. rush — a thrill
  7. track — a path
  8. race — a contest
  9. stick — to attach or keep to
  10. race — the arms race
  11. last — to go on
  12. rush — to hurry
  13. last — finally
  14. kid — child
  15. race — humankind
  16. net — for catching
  17. net — in sport
  18. track — to keep track
  19. degree — temperature
  20. rush — hurry
  21. degree — an amount
  22. last — final
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. net — after costs

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