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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  4. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. Have you settled on a ________________?
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  19. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  23. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. degree — from a university
  3. stem — of a plant
  4. date — the fruit
  5. degree — an amount
  6. pitch — a sports field
  7. ground — a position
  8. pitch — completely
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. ground — crushed
  11. toast — a drink to someone
  12. degree — temperature
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. ground — the earth
  15. cold — not warm
  16. wind — moving air
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. toast — the most admired
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. cold — an illness
  21. stem — to come from
  22. toast — bread
  23. pitch — a sales talk
  24. stem — a stem cell

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