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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: degree · bat · cold · pitcher · track · can · spell · club

  1. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  6. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  7. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  20. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. degree — from a university
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. track — to keep track
  5. track — a song
  6. can — to be able to
  7. club — for dancing
  8. cold — not warm
  9. track — a path
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. club — a group
  13. degree — temperature
  14. spell — letters
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. cold — an illness
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. club — for golf
  20. can — a tin
  21. bat — the animal
  22. spell — a short time
  23. can — a tin
  24. degree — an amount

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