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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. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  5. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  6. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  14. That must've been a ________________.
  15. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  16. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  17. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  18. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  19. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  20. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. degree — an amount
  3. rush — hurry
  4. track — a path
  5. pound — to hit hard
  6. wave — of the sea
  7. degree — from a university
  8. mine — for digging
  9. wave — with your hand
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. cold — an illness
  12. cold — not warm
  13. pound — a weight
  14. rush — a thrill
  15. track — to keep track
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. calf — a young animal
  18. calf — of the leg
  19. wave — a sudden rise
  20. track — a song
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. degree — temperature

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