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

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. When was this ________________ built?
  5. That was ________________ to happen.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  11. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  18. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  23. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. cold — an illness
  4. temple — a place of worship
  5. bound — certain
  6. ground — a position
  7. cap — a hat
  8. degree — an amount
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. bound — obliged
  11. cap — of ice
  12. ground — the earth
  13. cap — a lid
  14. ground — crushed
  15. pitch — completely
  16. degree — temperature
  17. temple — a place of worship
  18. temple — side of the head
  19. prune — to trim
  20. bound — tied together
  21. cold — not warm
  22. pitch — a sales talk
  23. prune — to trim
  24. cold — the Cold War

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