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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 120 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: pit · wind · fork · cold · track · cue · degree · last

  1. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  2. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  22. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — in a race
  2. cue — a signal
  3. track — to keep track
  4. last — finally
  5. degree — temperature
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. pit — a hole
  9. last — final
  10. last — to go on
  11. wind — moving air
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. degree — an amount
  14. pit — a fruit stone
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cue — a hint
  17. degree — from a university
  18. cold — an illness
  19. track — a song
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. track — a path
  22. cue — for pool
  23. wind — moving air
  24. fork — in a road

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