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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 120 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: pitcher · cold · degree · wind · prune · snap · scale · chip

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  16. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. degree — an amount
  3. scale — for weighing
  4. wind — moving air
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. degree — temperature
  7. cold — an illness
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. degree — from a university
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. snap — to click
  13. prune — to trim
  14. wind — moving air
  15. chip — to eat
  16. chip — for betting
  17. scale — size or range
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. cold — not warm
  22. prune — to trim
  23. chip — in a computer
  24. scale — in music

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