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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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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: mug · mine · row · cold · saw · fan · pass · degree

  1. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  3. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  13. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. Where did you ________________ them?
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. pass — to succeed
  3. saw — past of 'see'
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. fan — to cool the air
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. cold — an illness
  8. degree — an amount
  9. mine — for digging
  10. degree — from a university
  11. saw — the tool
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. mug — a cup
  14. degree — temperature
  15. mug — to rob
  16. cold — not warm
  17. row — a line
  18. pass — a permit
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. pass — to spend time
  21. saw — the tool
  22. mug — a face
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. row — to paddle

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