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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: cap · wind · degree · mate · season · last · cold · vault

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  7. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  8. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  11. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. Have you found your soul ________________?
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. cold — an illness
  3. cap — a lid
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. cap — of ice
  7. season — in sport
  8. vault — an arched ceiling
  9. degree — from a university
  10. cap — a hat
  11. mate — to breed
  12. wind — moving air
  13. mate — a partner
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. vault — in gymnastics
  16. degree — temperature
  17. last — finally
  18. mate — a friend
  19. cold — not warm
  20. wind — moving air
  21. vault — a safe
  22. season — of the year
  23. last — to go on
  24. degree — an amount

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