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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 smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. I can't ________________ this cold.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. stand — for spectators
  2. spring — of water
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. kid — child
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. cold — not warm
  7. wind — moving air
  8. object — an aim
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. cold — an illness
  11. stand — on your feet
  12. wind — moving air
  13. object — to protest
  14. spring — the season
  15. spring — a coil
  16. stand — to bear
  17. degree — from a university
  18. kid — to tease
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. degree — an amount
  21. object — a thing
  22. degree — temperature
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. cold — the Cold War

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