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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: mine · season · cold · firm · degree · row · hide · tear

  1. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  9. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. mine — for digging
  3. degree — an amount
  4. season — of the year
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. tear — to rip
  8. firm — steady
  9. firm — decided
  10. row — a line
  11. season — in sport
  12. tear — from crying
  13. hide — animal skin
  14. tear — from crying
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. cold — not warm
  18. cold — an illness
  19. degree — from a university
  20. row — to paddle
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. degree — temperature
  24. firm — a company

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