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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 120 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: cell · lean · bat · degree · racket · tear · bulb · chest

  1. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. I've got to change the light ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  13. The light ________________ burned out.
  14. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. degree — an amount
  3. lean — to bend
  4. bat — the animal
  5. tear — from crying
  6. lean — to rest against
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. chest — of your body
  9. bulb — for light
  10. chest — a box
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. racket — a loud noise
  13. bulb — for light
  14. bulb — of a plant
  15. degree — from a university
  16. chest — of your body
  17. degree — temperature
  18. lean — thin
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. tear — to rip
  21. racket — for tennis
  22. tear — from crying
  23. cell — a phone
  24. cell — in biology

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