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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 · pit · court · degree · temple · snap · straw · file

  1. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  3. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. When was this ________________ built?
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  17. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. pit — a hole
  3. temple — side of the head
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. degree — from a university
  7. temple — a place of worship
  8. file — a line of people
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. file — a tool
  11. court — for sport
  12. degree — temperature
  13. chest — a box
  14. degree — an amount
  15. court — of a king
  16. temple — a place of worship
  17. pit — a fruit stone
  18. file — a document
  19. snap — to click
  20. court — of law
  21. chest — of your body
  22. chest — of your body
  23. pit — in a race
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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