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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. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. We're on a ________________ here.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  12. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  13. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  16. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  17. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  18. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. cold — not warm
  3. ground — crushed
  4. craft — a skill
  5. degree — temperature
  6. roll — on a roll
  7. race — a contest
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. ground — a position
  10. ground — the earth
  11. dip — to dunk
  12. craft — boats
  13. roll — a cake
  14. degree — from a university
  15. craft — a handicraft
  16. dip — to sink
  17. mate — a friend
  18. dip — a sauce
  19. race — humankind
  20. mate — to breed
  21. degree — an amount
  22. cold — an illness
  23. roll — a list
  24. race — the arms race

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