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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: race · kid · stem · degree · arm · pop · mate · squash

  1. My father caught me by the ________________.
  2. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  8. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. You don't need to ________________ round.
  19. Have you found your soul ________________?
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. kid — to tease
  4. mate — to breed
  5. race — a contest
  6. mate — a friend
  7. arm — a part of something
  8. squash — the vegetable
  9. degree — from a university
  10. stem — to come from
  11. pop — soda
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. pop — music
  14. degree — temperature
  15. squash — the sport
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. squash — to crush
  18. pop — to visit
  19. mate — a partner
  20. race — the arms race
  21. kid — child
  22. degree — an amount
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. race — humankind

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