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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 120 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
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: game · cold · foot · degree · season · spring · pitch · calf

  1. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  13. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  19. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  20. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. Did you ________________ the meat?
  24. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. foot — a measure
  2. cold — not warm
  3. season — in sport
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. season — of the year
  6. pitch — completely
  7. spring — of water
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. spring — a coil
  10. spring — the season
  11. game — a match
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. pitch — a sales talk
  14. degree — an amount
  15. foot — part of the body
  16. cold — an illness
  17. degree — from a university
  18. calf — of the leg
  19. foot — the bottom
  20. pitch — a sports field
  21. degree — temperature
  22. game — wild animals
  23. season — to add flavour
  24. calf — a young animal

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