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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: stem · degree · mark · sharp · cold · tear · pitcher · rash

  1. It's one o'clock ________________.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — exactly
  2. tear — from crying
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. degree — temperature
  5. cold — not warm
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. tear — from crying
  8. tear — to rip
  9. mark — a grade
  10. stem — to come from
  11. degree — from a university
  12. cold — an illness
  13. mark — to pay attention
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. rash — a series
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. sharp — clever
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. rash — hasty
  21. degree — an amount
  22. mark — a trace
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. pitcher — a jug

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