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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: hand · bowl · cold · ruler · race · degree

  1. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  5. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  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. degree — temperature
  2. bowl — a football final
  3. hand — help
  4. bowl — a dish
  5. bowl — to roll
  6. race — humankind
  7. hand — in cards
  8. ruler — a monarch
  9. race — the arms race
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. ruler — for measuring
  12. degree — an amount
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. race — a contest
  15. ruler — for measuring
  16. cold — not warm
  17. cold — an illness
  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