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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: degree · wind · racket · race · hand · bat · march · straw

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. hand — in cards
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. wind — moving air
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. race — humankind
  8. march — music
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. degree — an amount
  11. march — the month
  12. degree — from a university
  13. race — a contest
  14. march — the month
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. wind — moving air
  18. race — the arms race
  19. degree — temperature
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. bat — the animal
  23. racket — a loud noise
  24. hand — help

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