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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. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  18. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — of ice
  2. degree — from a university
  3. squash — the sport
  4. tube — in a tire
  5. degree — temperature
  6. kid — child
  7. tube — the underground
  8. rock — a stone
  9. kid — to tease
  10. fall — to drop
  11. cap — a hat
  12. squash — to crush
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. tube — a container
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. degree — an amount
  17. rock — music
  18. cap — a lid
  19. cold — an illness
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. cold — not warm
  22. rock — to move gently
  23. fall — the season
  24. fall — to drop

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