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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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
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: cold · file · season · degree · pit · mug

  1. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Where did you ________________ them?
  16. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  17. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  18. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. pit — a fruit stone
  3. file — a tool
  4. pit — a hole
  5. cold — not warm
  6. pit — in a race
  7. degree — from a university
  8. file — a document
  9. degree — an amount
  10. degree — temperature
  11. cold — an illness
  12. mug — a cup
  13. file — a line of people
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. mug — to rob
  16. season — of the year
  17. season — in sport
  18. mug — a face

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