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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: pop · cold · bear · cell · degree · calf

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  15. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  16. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. bear — to put up with
  3. pop — soda
  4. pop — to visit
  5. degree — temperature
  6. cold — an illness
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. calf — of the leg
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. degree — an amount
  11. cold — not warm
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. pop — music
  14. bear — the animal
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. bear — the animal
  17. cell — in biology
  18. cell — a phone

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