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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. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  15. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. cold — an illness
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. rash — hasty
  7. rash — a series
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. hide — to keep secret
  10. wind — moving air
  11. degree — temperature
  12. hide — animal skin
  13. wind — moving air
  14. pitch — completely
  15. branch — a division
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. degree — an amount
  21. cold — not warm
  22. mine — for digging
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. degree — from a university

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