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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 · row · degree · fork · object · lean · safe · lash

  1. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  2. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  6. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  11. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  15. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. The spa offers ________________ extensions.

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

Answer key

  1. safe — out of danger
  2. lean — thin
  3. lash — to lash out
  4. degree — from a university
  5. safe — a strongbox
  6. lash — a whip stroke
  7. race — humankind
  8. object — to protest
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. safe — out of danger
  11. object — an aim
  12. degree — temperature
  13. fork — in a road
  14. lean — to bend
  15. object — a thing
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. degree — an amount
  18. row — to paddle
  19. lean — to rest against
  20. race — a contest
  21. row — a line
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. race — the arms race
  24. lash — an eyelash

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