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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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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: shower · pound · row · cold · rock · squash · dip · degree

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  4. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. dip — to dunk
  4. pound — for dogs
  5. squash — to crush
  6. squash — the sport
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. rock — music
  9. row — a line
  10. pound — a weight
  11. degree — an amount
  12. dip — to sink
  13. shower — rain
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. dip — a sauce
  16. shower — to wash
  17. degree — from a university
  18. rock — to move gently
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. cold — an illness
  21. rock — a stone
  22. row — to paddle
  23. pound — to hit hard
  24. degree — temperature

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