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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: race · cold · content · pound · degree · arm

  1. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. My father caught me by the ________________.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  16. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — a weight
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. race — humankind
  5. cold — not warm
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. race — the arms race
  8. cold — an illness
  9. content — happy
  10. degree — an amount
  11. arm — a part of something
  12. content — the amount
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. degree — from a university
  15. pound — for dogs
  16. pound — to hit hard
  17. degree — temperature
  18. race — a contest

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