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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: bowl · chip · wound · season · root · pitch · degree · cold

  1. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. Did you ________________ the meat?
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  16. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  19. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  22. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  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. season — in sport
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. cold — an illness
  5. root — of a word
  6. wound — an injury
  7. degree — temperature
  8. chip — to eat
  9. wound — an injury
  10. pitch — completely
  11. season — to add flavour
  12. degree — an amount
  13. bowl — to roll
  14. cold — not warm
  15. chip — for betting
  16. season — of the year
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. root — the cause
  19. chip — in a computer
  20. degree — from a university
  21. pitch — a sales talk
  22. root — of a plant
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  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