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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  18. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  24. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. club — for golf
  3. club — a group
  4. game — a match
  5. degree — an amount
  6. wound — an injury
  7. cold — an illness
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. wind — moving air
  11. degree — temperature
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. game — wild animals
  14. club — for dancing
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. cold — not warm
  17. leaves — of a tree
  18. leaves — to go away
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. wound — an injury
  22. degree — from a university
  23. leaves — lets stay
  24. pitch — completely

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