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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 116 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: wake · degree · press · tear · root · drill · race · kid

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. Did you ________________ the button?
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. drill — army training
  3. degree — an amount
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. degree — from a university
  6. press — a publisher
  7. press — to push
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. drill — a practice
  10. race — the arms race
  11. press — newspapers
  12. wake — a trail
  13. root — the cause
  14. race — humankind
  15. tear — from crying
  16. race — a contest
  17. wake — before a funeral
  18. tear — to rip
  19. degree — temperature
  20. root — of a word
  21. tear — from crying
  22. kid — child
  23. root — of a plant
  24. drill — the tool

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