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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: pop · object · band · perch · cold · court · snap · degree

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  8. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. pop — soda
  3. band — a ring
  4. band — a music group
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. object — an aim
  8. object — to protest
  9. court — of law
  10. court — for sport
  11. pop — to visit
  12. degree — from a university
  13. degree — an amount
  14. court — of a king
  15. object — a thing
  16. snap — to click
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. pop — music
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. degree — temperature
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. perch — the fish
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. cold — an illness

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