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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: degree · cold · fine · wake · wound · wind · file · pass

  1. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  22. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. pass — a permit
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. wind — moving air
  5. degree — from a university
  6. pass — to spend time
  7. cold — an illness
  8. wind — moving air
  9. file — a line of people
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. degree — an amount
  12. cold — not warm
  13. file — a tool
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. fine — a penalty
  16. file — a document
  17. wound — an injury
  18. fine — high quality
  19. wake — a trail
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. wake — before a funeral
  22. fine — all right
  23. wound — an injury
  24. pass — to succeed

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