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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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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. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. cap — of ice
  3. scale — for weighing
  4. kid — to tease
  5. hand — in cards
  6. bark — to shout
  7. scale — in music
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. degree — temperature
  10. degree — from a university
  11. hand — help
  12. degree — an amount
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. cap — a lid
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. kid — child
  17. cap — a hat
  18. scale — size or range

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