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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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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 · cold · wind · drill · straw · saw · file · calf

  1. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. She's very handy with a ________________.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  11. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. cold — not warm
  3. saw — the tool
  4. drill — army training
  5. degree — temperature
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. degree — from a university
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. drill — a practice
  10. calf — a young animal
  11. calf — of the leg
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. file — a line of people
  14. file — a document
  15. cold — an illness
  16. saw — the tool
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. wind — moving air
  19. drill — the tool
  20. saw — past of 'see'
  21. file — a tool
  22. degree — an amount
  23. wind — moving air
  24. wind — to turn a key

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