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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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  10. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. spring — the season
  3. degree — from a university
  4. snap — to click
  5. face — to point toward
  6. face — part of the head
  7. degree — an amount
  8. cold — an illness
  9. board — a committee
  10. board — to get on
  11. wound — an injury
  12. spring — a coil
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. tear — from crying
  15. tear — from crying
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. spring — of water
  18. cold — not warm
  19. board — a flat piece
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. tear — to rip
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. face — to confront
  24. wound — an injury

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