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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  12. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. Have you settled on a ________________?
  22. The ________________ went through the wall.
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. degree — temperature
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. degree — from a university
  5. ground — a position
  6. ground — the earth
  7. drill — a practice
  8. mouse — the animal
  9. cold — not warm
  10. drill — army training
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. date — the fruit
  13. drill — the tool
  14. mouse — for a computer
  15. swing — music
  16. mouse — the animal
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. ground — crushed
  19. nail — on a finger
  20. swing — in golf
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. swing — to play on
  24. cold — an illness

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