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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  5. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  6. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. I can't ________________ this cold.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  11. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  17. The King held a masked ________________.
  18. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. David sat on the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. swing — music
  3. shower — rain
  4. ball — a round shape
  5. mark — a grade
  6. stand — for spectators
  7. degree — from a university
  8. stand — to bear
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. mark — a trace
  11. mark — to pay attention
  12. shower — to wash
  13. root — of a plant
  14. cold — not warm
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. stand — on your feet
  17. ball — a dance
  18. ball — a great time
  19. cold — an illness
  20. root — of a word
  21. root — the cause
  22. degree — temperature
  23. swing — in golf
  24. swing — to play on

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