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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. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  2. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. Have you settled on a ________________?
  9. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  17. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. The King held a masked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. cold — not warm
  4. degree — temperature
  5. wave — a sudden rise
  6. cold — an illness
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. pound — a weight
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. wave — of the sea
  12. perch — the fish
  13. date — the fruit
  14. degree — an amount
  15. game — wild animals
  16. pound — for dogs
  17. ball — a round shape
  18. degree — from a university
  19. ball — a great time
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. wave — with your hand
  23. game — a match
  24. ball — a dance

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