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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  8. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. Don't do anything ________________.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. Have you met the new head ________________?
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. land — a country
  3. tear — to rip
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. tear — from crying
  7. coach — pulled by horses
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. cold — not warm
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. stem — to come from
  13. cold — an illness
  14. degree — an amount
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. land — ground
  18. rash — hasty
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. land — to come down
  21. rash — a series
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. degree — from a university
  24. tear — from crying

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