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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: bat · race · degree · fall · stick · chip · march · chest

  1. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  4. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  24. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. bat — the animal
  3. stick — a piece of wood
  4. stick — to attach or keep to
  5. degree — temperature
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. fall — to drop
  8. chest — of your body
  9. stick — a piece of wood
  10. chest — a box
  11. fall — to drop
  12. march — music
  13. march — the month
  14. fall — the season
  15. chip — to eat
  16. race — the arms race
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. degree — an amount
  19. chip — in a computer
  20. march — the month
  21. degree — from a university
  22. chest — of your body
  23. chip — for betting
  24. race — a contest

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