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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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Word bank
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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: pitch · game · race · wound · chest · degree · net · lie

  1. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  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. race — humankind
  2. chest — of your body
  3. net — in sport
  4. net — after costs
  5. wound — an injury
  6. chest — a box
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. wound — an injury
  9. lie — to recline
  10. pitch — completely
  11. lie — an untruth
  12. game — wild animals
  13. lie — an untruth
  14. net — for catching
  15. race — a contest
  16. game — a match
  17. race — the arms race
  18. degree — from a university
  19. chest — of your body
  20. pitch — a sales talk
  21. degree — an amount
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. pitch — a sports field
  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