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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  3. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  4. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Have you met the new head ________________?
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  10. The light ________________ burned out.
  11. I've got to change the light ________________.
  12. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  13. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. The ________________ went through the wall.
  18. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  19. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  20. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. pound — a weight
  4. bulb — of a plant
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. cold — not warm
  8. degree — an amount
  9. mark — a trace
  10. bulb — for light
  11. bulb — for light
  12. nail — on a finger
  13. pound — to hit hard
  14. drill — army training
  15. drill — the tool
  16. drill — a practice
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. coach — pulled by horses
  19. pound — for dogs
  20. mark — a grade
  21. degree — temperature
  22. mark — to pay attention
  23. cold — an illness
  24. coach — a trainer

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