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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: cold · degree · cue · chest · perch · bass · bore · spring

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  9. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. chest — a box
  3. degree — an amount
  4. cue — a hint
  5. cold — not warm
  6. bore — to tire
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. bore — to drill
  9. cue — a signal
  10. bass — low music
  11. degree — from a university
  12. spring — a coil
  13. cue — for pool
  14. bass — the fish
  15. perch — the fish
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. spring — the season
  18. chest — of your body
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. spring — of water
  21. chest — of your body
  22. bore — gave birth
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. degree — temperature

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