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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: cold · ground · jam · wind · suit · press · kid · degree

  1. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  10. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  18. Did you ________________ the button?
  19. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  20. When will it ________________ you to start?
  21. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. cold — not warm
  3. jam — a tight spot
  4. kid — to tease
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. ground — a position
  7. degree — an amount
  8. degree — from a university
  9. press — newspapers
  10. suit — clothes
  11. cold — an illness
  12. ground — crushed
  13. wind — moving air
  14. press — a publisher
  15. ground — the earth
  16. wind — moving air
  17. jam — to spread on bread
  18. press — to push
  19. jam — in traffic
  20. suit — to fit
  21. suit — in cards
  22. kid — child
  23. degree — temperature
  24. cold — the Cold War

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