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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. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  18. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  22. My father caught me by the ________________.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. file — a line of people
  4. calf — a young animal
  5. game — a match
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. pound — a weight
  8. degree — an amount
  9. degree — from a university
  10. arm — a part of something
  11. game — wild animals
  12. cold — an illness
  13. file — a tool
  14. file — a document
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. hand — help
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. calf — of the leg
  19. cold — not warm
  20. hand — in cards
  21. pound — to hit hard
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. degree — temperature
  24. calf — a young animal

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