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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 · spring · rash · degree · clip · stand · roll · charge

  1. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  6. I can't ________________ this cold.
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. The tickets are free of ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. We're on a ________________ here.
  16. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  17. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  18. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a list
  2. degree — an amount
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. cold — an illness
  5. stand — for spectators
  6. stand — to bear
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. clip — a video
  9. charge — electricity
  10. degree — from a university
  11. charge — a price
  12. spring — of water
  13. degree — temperature
  14. spring — the season
  15. roll — on a roll
  16. rash — a series
  17. roll — a cake
  18. charge — in control
  19. cold — not warm
  20. rash — hasty
  21. stand — on your feet
  22. clip — to cut
  23. clip — for paper
  24. spring — a coil

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