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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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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: degree · pitch · drill · chest · wave · rule · wake · spring

  1. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  5. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  14. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. spring — the season
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. wave — a sudden rise
  5. rule — to rule out
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. spring — a coil
  8. degree — an amount
  9. degree — from a university
  10. wave — of the sea
  11. chest — a box
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. pitch — completely
  14. rule — government
  15. spring — of water
  16. drill — army training
  17. rule — a law
  18. chest — of your body
  19. pitch — a sales talk
  20. drill — the tool
  21. wave — with your hand
  22. drill — a practice
  23. chest — of your body
  24. wake — a trail

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