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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 120 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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  4. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  10. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. cold — not warm
  3. bear — the animal
  4. safe — out of danger
  5. kid — to tease
  6. kid — child
  7. shower — to wash
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. bear — to put up with
  10. bear — the animal
  11. degree — from a university
  12. safe — out of danger
  13. content — the amount
  14. capital — a city
  15. cold — an illness
  16. capital — money
  17. degree — an amount
  18. content — happy
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. safe — a strongbox
  22. shower — rain
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. cold — the Cold War

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