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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: kid · straw · degree · ground · pass · bat · rest · nail

  1. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  11. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  16. The ________________ went through the wall.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  19. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — a permit
  2. kid — child
  3. degree — an amount
  4. kid — to tease
  5. ground — the earth
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. rest — a break
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. rest — what's left
  11. nail — on a finger
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. ground — crushed
  14. bat — the animal
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. rest — what's left
  19. pass — to succeed
  20. ground — a position
  21. degree — from a university
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. pass — to spend time
  24. degree — temperature

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