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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 · degree · cold · tear · foot · kick · field · staff

  1. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  4. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  7. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  11. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. I have a corn on my right ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — in football
  2. tear — from crying
  3. bowl — a dish
  4. foot — a measure
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. kick — with a leg
  7. staff — employees
  8. cold — not warm
  9. degree — temperature
  10. staff — employees
  11. staff — a stick
  12. field — for sport
  13. field — farmland
  14. kick — a thrill
  15. cold — an illness
  16. bowl — a football final
  17. tear — to rip
  18. foot — the bottom
  19. field — a subject
  20. degree — from a university
  21. tear — from crying
  22. bowl — to roll
  23. degree — an amount
  24. foot — part of the body

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