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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 · tear · degree · hide · wind · arm · mate · rule

  1. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  5. Have you found your soul ________________?
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. My father caught me by the ________________.
  12. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  17. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  24. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. degree — temperature
  3. mate — to breed
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. mate — a partner
  6. chest — of your body
  7. chest — a box
  8. tear — from crying
  9. tear — to rip
  10. wind — moving air
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. mate — a friend
  13. tear — from crying
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. hide — animal skin
  17. rule — a law
  18. degree — from a university
  19. chest — of your body
  20. degree — an amount
  21. rule — to rule out
  22. wind — moving air
  23. rule — government
  24. arm — a part of something

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