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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: cold · race · degree · season · foot · pound

  1. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  7. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  8. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  17. Did you ________________ the meat?
  18. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. degree — from a university
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. season — of the year
  6. foot — the bottom
  7. pound — for dogs
  8. pound — a weight
  9. race — a contest
  10. race — the arms race
  11. degree — temperature
  12. cold — an illness
  13. degree — an amount
  14. cold — not warm
  15. season — in sport
  16. foot — part of the body
  17. season — to add flavour
  18. foot — a measure

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