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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: chest · wave · pitcher · degree · drill · cold · wound · chip

  1. He is an ace ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — in baseball
  2. degree — an amount
  3. drill — the tool
  4. cold — not warm
  5. degree — from a university
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. chip — for betting
  8. wound — an injury
  9. chip — in a computer
  10. cold — an illness
  11. chest — a box
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. drill — a practice
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. wave — of the sea
  16. chest — of your body
  17. wave — a sudden rise
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. drill — army training
  20. wave — with your hand
  21. degree — temperature
  22. chest — of your body
  23. wound — an injury
  24. chip — to eat

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