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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  8. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  19. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  22. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. degree — temperature
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. fall — to drop
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. club — for golf
  8. fall — the season
  9. spring — the season
  10. spring — a coil
  11. rock — a stone
  12. game — a match
  13. game — wild animals
  14. degree — from a university
  15. degree — an amount
  16. club — a group
  17. spring — of water
  18. rock — to move gently
  19. club — for dancing
  20. cold — an illness
  21. sharp — clever
  22. fall — to drop
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. rock — music

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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