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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: land · degree · cold · season · pass · tear · straw · saw

  1. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  13. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  14. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  15. Did you ________________ the meat?
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. land — ground
  3. tear — to rip
  4. degree — an amount
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. pass — to succeed
  7. cold — not warm
  8. degree — from a university
  9. pass — to spend time
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. saw — the tool
  12. season — in sport
  13. season — of the year
  14. pass — a permit
  15. season — to add flavour
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. saw — the tool
  18. tear — from crying
  19. land — to come down
  20. land — a country
  21. cold — an illness
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. tear — from crying

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