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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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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 · wind · cap · mug · stick · degree · pitcher · dip

  1. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  2. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  3. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  4. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  5. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  6. Where did you ________________ them?
  7. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. stick — to attach or keep to
  4. mug — a face
  5. cap — of ice
  6. mug — to rob
  7. mug — a cup
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. dip — a sauce
  10. cold — an illness
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. wind — moving air
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. degree — from a university
  16. degree — an amount
  17. cold — not warm
  18. dip — to sink
  19. degree — temperature
  20. dip — to dunk
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. wind — moving air
  24. cap — a lid

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