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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 settled on a ________________?
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  11. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  17. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  21. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  22. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. mate — a partner
  3. degree — temperature
  4. fall — to drop
  5. track — a path
  6. fall — the season
  7. degree — from a university
  8. staff — a stick
  9. kid — to tease
  10. staff — employees
  11. track — to keep track
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. cold — not warm
  15. fall — to drop
  16. staff — employees
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. kid — child
  19. degree — an amount
  20. mate — a friend
  21. track — a song
  22. date — the fruit
  23. cold — an illness
  24. mate — to breed

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