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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: chest · pop · degree · face · rule · racket · race · sharp

  1. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  2. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. We're almost out of ________________.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  18. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — a loud noise
  2. rule — government
  3. degree — from a university
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. race — the arms race
  6. race — humankind
  7. degree — temperature
  8. pop — soda
  9. chest — of your body
  10. face — to point toward
  11. degree — an amount
  12. pop — to visit
  13. chest — of your body
  14. rule — a law
  15. race — a contest
  16. face — to confront
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. rule — to rule out
  19. chest — a box
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. face — part of the head
  22. pop — music
  23. sharp — clever
  24. sharp — exactly

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