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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: squash · rest · stem · cold · can · wind · pound · degree

  1. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  2. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  8. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  12. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  13. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  14. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. can — to be able to
  2. can — a tin
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. squash — the vegetable
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. stem — of a plant
  8. pound — for dogs
  9. degree — an amount
  10. cold — not warm
  11. rest — a break
  12. can — a tin
  13. rest — what's left
  14. pound — a weight
  15. wind — moving air
  16. squash — the sport
  17. squash — to crush
  18. degree — temperature
  19. rest — what's left
  20. degree — from a university
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. stem — to come from
  23. wind — moving air
  24. cold — an illness

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