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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: bat · tear · net · cold · fine · degree · cabinet · bear

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. What do you think of the new ________________?
  3. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  4. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  5. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. bear — the animal
  4. cabinet — a cupboard
  5. fine — a penalty
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. bat — the animal
  8. cabinet — ministers
  9. net — for catching
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. tear — from crying
  12. bear — the animal
  13. net — in sport
  14. tear — from crying
  15. cold — an illness
  16. fine — high quality
  17. tear — to rip
  18. fine — all right
  19. cold — not warm
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. degree — from a university
  22. net — after costs
  23. degree — temperature
  24. bear — to put up with

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