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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 120 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 water is too ________________.
  2. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. That was ________________ to happen.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  23. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. cap — of ice
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. cold — an illness
  5. kick — with a leg
  6. degree — from a university
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. cap — a hat
  10. kick — in football
  11. chair — a leader
  12. bound — tied together
  13. wake — a trail
  14. bound — certain
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. wake — before a funeral
  19. degree — an amount
  20. degree — temperature
  21. shower — to wash
  22. cap — a lid
  23. bound — obliged
  24. shower — rain

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