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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: rash · cold · straw · degree · field · fall · dip · march

  1. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  13. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. I seem to be developing a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. fall — to drop
  3. march — the month
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. degree — from a university
  6. march — the month
  7. field — a subject
  8. cold — an illness
  9. fall — to drop
  10. fall — the season
  11. rash — hasty
  12. dip — to dunk
  13. dip — a sauce
  14. degree — temperature
  15. degree — an amount
  16. field — for sport
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. dip — to sink
  19. field — farmland
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. rash — a series
  22. cold — not warm
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. rash — on the skin

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