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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 116 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  4. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. This piece is in a major ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. degree — temperature
  3. wave — a sudden rise
  4. key — the most important part
  5. degree — an amount
  6. wave — of the sea
  7. kid — to tease
  8. key — in music
  9. cold — an illness
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. cold — not warm
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. key — for a lock
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. degree — from a university
  16. wave — with your hand
  17. pitch — completely
  18. pitch — a sports field

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