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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. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  2. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  7. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  10. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  11. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  12. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  22. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — a big deal
  2. pitch — completely
  3. wind — moving air
  4. wind — moving air
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. deal — to handle
  7. bore — to tire
  8. degree — an amount
  9. track — a song
  10. track — to keep track
  11. bore — gave birth
  12. bore — to drill
  13. degree — from a university
  14. cold — not warm
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. deal — an agreement
  17. band — a ring
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. degree — temperature
  20. cold — an illness
  21. pitch — a sales talk
  22. track — a path
  23. band — a music group
  24. cold — the Cold War

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