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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  6. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  14. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  15. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  16. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  17. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  20. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  24. This piece is in a major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. rash — hasty
  4. degree — an amount
  5. hide — animal skin
  6. wave — with your hand
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. cold — an illness
  9. band — a music group
  10. key — the most important part
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. degree — from a university
  13. season — of the year
  14. wave — a sudden rise
  15. wave — of the sea
  16. season — in sport
  17. rash — a series
  18. degree — temperature
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. cold — not warm
  23. key — for a lock
  24. key — in music

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