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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  12. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. shower — to wash
  3. pop — music
  4. mate — a partner
  5. track — to keep track
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. pop — to visit
  8. degree — an amount
  9. mate — to breed
  10. race — humankind
  11. track — a song
  12. mate — a friend
  13. track — a path
  14. bass — low music
  15. shower — rain
  16. race — the arms race
  17. pop — soda
  18. bass — the instrument
  19. cold — not warm
  20. degree — from a university
  21. degree — temperature
  22. race — a contest
  23. cold — an illness
  24. bass — the fish

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