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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: kick · shower · chest · bat · foot · degree · pitch · lie

  1. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  2. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  13. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  14. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  20. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  21. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sports field
  2. kick — in football
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. degree — from a university
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. foot — part of the body
  7. chest — a box
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. degree — temperature
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. bat — the animal
  12. pitch — completely
  13. foot — the bottom
  14. foot — a measure
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. chest — of your body
  17. lie — an untruth
  18. shower — rain
  19. lie — to recline
  20. pitch — a sales talk
  21. lie — an untruth
  22. chest — of your body
  23. shower — to wash
  24. degree — an amount

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