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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 120 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: pit · degree · mark · row · hand · straw · cell · content

  1. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  20. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. hand — help
  4. row — to paddle
  5. pit — in a race
  6. degree — temperature
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. content — the amount
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. mark — a trace
  11. content — happy
  12. pit — a hole
  13. degree — an amount
  14. mark — to pay attention
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. degree — from a university
  17. row — a line
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. pit — a fruit stone
  20. mark — a grade
  21. cell — a phone
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. hand — in cards
  24. cell — in biology

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