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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. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  5. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  8. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  11. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  18. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. Did you ________________ the meat?
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — a young animal
  2. degree — temperature
  3. degree — from a university
  4. calf — of the leg
  5. calf — a young animal
  6. wind — moving air
  7. pit — in a race
  8. pit — a fruit stone
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. pitch — a sports field
  11. pitch — completely
  12. cold — not warm
  13. degree — an amount
  14. pit — a hole
  15. wind — moving air
  16. cold — an illness
  17. season — of the year
  18. pitch — a sales talk
  19. capital — money
  20. season — to add flavour
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. season — in sport
  23. capital — a city
  24. wind — to turn a key

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