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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 116 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: bank · bowl · degree · pitch · face · tear · fork · cold

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  9. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  14. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  15. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  18. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. cold — an illness
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. bowl — a football final
  5. tear — from crying
  6. face — part of the head
  7. cold — not warm
  8. fork — a garden tool
  9. bank — for money
  10. face — to confront
  11. bank — of a river
  12. degree — from a university
  13. bowl — a dish
  14. bank — for money
  15. fork — to eat with
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. face — to point toward
  18. pitch — a sales talk
  19. tear — from crying
  20. bowl — to roll
  21. tear — to rip
  22. fork — in a road
  23. degree — temperature
  24. pitch — completely

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