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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: roll · cap · pitcher · field · degree · pit · object · cold

  1. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  12. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  19. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. We're on a ________________ here.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a fruit stone
  2. roll — a list
  3. cap — a lid
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. field — farmland
  6. cap — a hat
  7. degree — an amount
  8. object — a thing
  9. cold — not warm
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. pit — in a race
  12. roll — a cake
  13. cold — an illness
  14. field — a subject
  15. cap — of ice
  16. pit — a hole
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. object — an aim
  19. object — to protest
  20. field — for sport
  21. degree — from a university
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. roll — on a roll
  24. degree — temperature

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