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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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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 · shower · coach · rash · degree · bound · file · cue

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. That was ________________ to happen.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  13. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  19. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. file — a line of people
  3. shower — to wash
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. cue — for pool
  6. cold — not warm
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. cold — an illness
  10. bound — certain
  11. rash — hasty
  12. bound — obliged
  13. rash — on the skin
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. shower — rain
  16. file — a tool
  17. file — a document
  18. rash — a series
  19. cue — a signal
  20. degree — temperature
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. cue — a hint
  23. degree — an amount
  24. bound — tied together

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