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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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  6. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. perch — the fish
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. cue — a signal
  6. cue — a hint
  7. tear — to rip
  8. chest — a box
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. degree — an amount
  12. degree — from a university
  13. tear — from crying
  14. pitch — a sports field
  15. chest — of your body
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. cold — an illness
  18. tear — from crying
  19. chest — of your body
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. cue — for pool
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. pitch — completely
  24. cold — not warm

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