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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  13. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  14. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. court — for sport
  3. bark — to shout
  4. degree — temperature
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. craft — boats
  7. chest — of your body
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. bat — the animal
  10. craft — a skill
  11. degree — from a university
  12. craft — a handicraft
  13. rock — a stone
  14. rock — music
  15. chest — of your body
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. court — of a king
  19. chest — a box
  20. court — of law
  21. rock — to move gently
  22. kid — to tease
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. degree — an amount

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