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

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  3. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  4. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  22. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. object — to protest
  3. patient — calm and waiting
  4. lie — to recline
  5. degree — temperature
  6. wind — moving air
  7. degree — an amount
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. content — happy
  11. wind — moving air
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. shower — rain
  16. object — an aim
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. content — the amount
  19. kid — child
  20. shower — to wash
  21. object — a thing
  22. lie — an untruth
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. degree — from a university

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