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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: cold · race · leaves · pitch · bank · shower · stem · degree

  1. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  2. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  24. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sports field
  2. leaves — to go away
  3. cold — an illness
  4. degree — an amount
  5. stem — a stem cell
  6. pitch — completely
  7. degree — from a university
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. race — a contest
  11. stem — of a plant
  12. race — the arms race
  13. bank — for money
  14. shower — rain
  15. race — humankind
  16. shower — to wash
  17. stem — to come from
  18. cold — not warm
  19. leaves — lets stay
  20. degree — temperature
  21. leaves — of a tree
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. bank — of a river
  24. bank — for money

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