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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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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: wind · cold · race · cap · degree · mine

  1. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. cold — not warm
  3. mine — for digging
  4. race — a contest
  5. wind — moving air
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. cap — a lid
  9. degree — an amount
  10. cap — of ice
  11. race — humankind
  12. race — the arms race
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. degree — temperature
  15. cold — an illness
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. cap — a hat
  18. degree — from a university

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