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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  19. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  20. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  21. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  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. straw — a straw man
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. cap — of ice
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. perch — the fish
  6. degree — temperature
  7. degree — an amount
  8. vault — in gymnastics
  9. ground — crushed
  10. cold — not warm
  11. degree — from a university
  12. ground — the earth
  13. ground — a position
  14. cap — a lid
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. vault — a safe
  19. cap — a hat
  20. vault — an arched ceiling
  21. pitch — a sports field
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. pitch — completely
  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