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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: cell · nail · degree · band · foot · bowl · rash · cold

  1. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  2. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  14. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  15. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. The ________________ went through the wall.
  24. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — for a hammer
  2. bowl — to roll
  3. cold — not warm
  4. cell — a phone
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. degree — an amount
  8. nail — on a finger
  9. rash — hasty
  10. cold — an illness
  11. foot — the bottom
  12. degree — from a university
  13. bowl — a football final
  14. foot — part of the body
  15. foot — a measure
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. band — a ring
  18. band — a music group
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. cell — in biology
  21. degree — temperature
  22. rash — a series
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. bowl — a dish

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