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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: squash · degree · date · lean · roll · arm · cold · chip

  1. We're on a ________________ here.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  12. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  13. My father caught me by the ________________.
  14. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  17. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  20. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  21. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  22. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  23. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  24. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — on a roll
  2. cold — an illness
  3. cold — not warm
  4. date — the fruit
  5. degree — from a university
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. squash — to crush
  8. degree — an amount
  9. arm — a part of something
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. roll — a cake
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. squash — the sport
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. chip — for betting
  18. degree — temperature
  19. lean — to rest against
  20. chip — to eat
  21. lean — thin
  22. chip — in a computer
  23. lean — to bend
  24. roll — a list

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