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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: key · degree · tear · cold · hand · roll · arm · fine

  1. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  4. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  7. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  8. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. We're on a ________________ here.
  12. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. My father caught me by the ________________.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. This piece is in a major ________________.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a cake
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. key — for a lock
  4. arm — a part of something
  5. degree — an amount
  6. fine — all right
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. fine — a penalty
  9. hand — in cards
  10. degree — temperature
  11. roll — on a roll
  12. fine — high quality
  13. cold — an illness
  14. roll — a list
  15. cold — not warm
  16. tear — from crying
  17. hand — help
  18. key — the most important part
  19. tear — from crying
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. degree — from a university
  22. key — in music
  23. tear — to rip
  24. hand — part of the body

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