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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 120 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. The water is too ________________.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  11. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  20. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  21. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. band — a music group
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. rest — what's left
  5. cell — in biology
  6. root — the cause
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. degree — from a university
  9. cold — an illness
  10. root — of a plant
  11. bowl — a dish
  12. degree — temperature
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. band — a ring
  15. bowl — to roll
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. cell — a phone
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. rest — a break
  20. rest — what's left
  21. root — of a word
  22. perch — the fish
  23. degree — an amount
  24. bowl — a football final

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