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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: nail · cold · dip · fall · chest · stand · ground · degree

  1. I can't ________________ this cold.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  11. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  16. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. The ________________ went through the wall.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  22. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. stand — to bear
  2. chest — of your body
  3. chest — a box
  4. ground — the earth
  5. cold — not warm
  6. ground — a position
  7. stand — for spectators
  8. degree — an amount
  9. ground — crushed
  10. dip — to dunk
  11. stand — on your feet
  12. fall — to drop
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. degree — temperature
  15. dip — to sink
  16. nail — on a finger
  17. cold — an illness
  18. degree — from a university
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. chest — of your body
  21. fall — to drop
  22. dip — a sauce
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. fall — the season

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