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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: land · degree · lie · pitcher · cold · present

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  11. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  16. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. cold — not warm
  3. lie — an untruth
  4. degree — from a university
  5. present — the time now
  6. land — a country
  7. degree — temperature
  8. present — there
  9. degree — an amount
  10. lie — to recline
  11. present — a gift
  12. land — to come down
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. lie — an untruth
  17. land — ground
  18. pitcher — in baseball

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