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

Word bank: wind · degree · safe · stand · cold · tear

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  4. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. I can't ________________ this cold.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  18. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. degree — from a university
  3. stand — for spectators
  4. safe — a strongbox
  5. cold — an illness
  6. stand — to bear
  7. tear — to rip
  8. tear — from crying
  9. wind — moving air
  10. cold — not warm
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. wind — moving air
  13. tear — from crying
  14. degree — temperature
  15. stand — on your feet
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. safe — out of danger
  18. safe — out of danger

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