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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 120 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 university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  14. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  23. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. cold — an illness
  3. lie — an untruth
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. cap — a hat
  6. ground — crushed
  7. degree — temperature
  8. kick — in football
  9. rash — hasty
  10. ground — the earth
  11. spring — of water
  12. degree — an amount
  13. cap — a lid
  14. kick — with a leg
  15. ground — a position
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. cold — not warm
  18. rash — on the skin
  19. rash — a series
  20. cap — of ice
  21. spring — the season
  22. lie — an untruth
  23. lie — to recline
  24. spring — a coil

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