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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: cap · track · pit · file · bound · spring · degree · cold

  1. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  8. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. That was ________________ to happen.
  11. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  12. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  22. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. track — a song
  3. spring — of water
  4. spring — a coil
  5. track — to keep track
  6. degree — from a university
  7. bound — tied together
  8. pit — a hole
  9. cold — an illness
  10. bound — certain
  11. pit — a fruit stone
  12. bound — obliged
  13. track — a path
  14. cap — of ice
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. cap — a hat
  17. file — a line of people
  18. cold — not warm
  19. file — a document
  20. spring — the season
  21. cap — a lid
  22. pit — in a race
  23. degree — an amount
  24. file — a tool

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