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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 116 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: tear · degree · calf · pitcher · drill · cold · wake · swing

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  12. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. cold — an illness
  4. calf — of the leg
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. degree — an amount
  7. tear — from crying
  8. tear — to rip
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. swing — to play on
  11. wake — to stop sleeping
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. drill — a practice
  14. degree — from a university
  15. degree — temperature
  16. tear — from crying
  17. drill — army training
  18. swing — music
  19. drill — the tool
  20. calf — a young animal
  21. swing — in golf
  22. wake — a trail
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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