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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: degree · row · field · staff · pass · content · cold · pop

  1. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  3. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  24. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. pass — to spend time
  3. staff — a stick
  4. pop — music
  5. pass — a permit
  6. cold — an illness
  7. cold — not warm
  8. pass — to succeed
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. row — to paddle
  12. pop — soda
  13. field — a subject
  14. degree — from a university
  15. staff — employees
  16. field — for sport
  17. field — farmland
  18. degree — an amount
  19. content — the amount
  20. degree — temperature
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. row — a line
  23. content — happy
  24. staff — employees

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