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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. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  10. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  19. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. Did you ________________ the meat?
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — in sport
  2. degree — from a university
  3. land — a country
  4. cold — an illness
  5. season — of the year
  6. degree — an amount
  7. degree — temperature
  8. cold — not warm
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. calf — of the leg
  11. race — the arms race
  12. race — humankind
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. land — ground
  15. race — a contest
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. present — the time now
  19. present — a gift
  20. land — to come down
  21. season — to add flavour
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. present — there
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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