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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  6. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. degree — from a university
  3. craft — a skill
  4. content — the amount
  5. calf — a young animal
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. degree — an amount
  9. calf — of the leg
  10. kid — child
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. degree — temperature
  13. craft — a handicraft
  14. drill — a practice
  15. drill — army training
  16. kid — to tease
  17. craft — boats
  18. drill — the tool

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