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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.

Words on the sheet
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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 · straw · degree · hide · mine · ball · pop · spell

  1. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  7. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. You don't need to ________________ round.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  18. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  23. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. degree — temperature
  3. ball — a dance
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. ball — a round shape
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. spell — letters
  9. spell — a short time
  10. cold — not warm
  11. degree — an amount
  12. degree — from a university
  13. spell — magic
  14. pop — soda
  15. pop — to visit
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. ball — a great time
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. cold — an illness
  22. hide — animal skin
  23. pop — music
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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