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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. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  5. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  6. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  15. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  16. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  17. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. spell — magic
  3. spell — letters
  4. bore — to tire
  5. calf — a young animal
  6. bowl — a dish
  7. spell — a short time
  8. degree — from a university
  9. degree — temperature
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. degree — an amount
  12. bowl — a football final
  13. clip — for paper
  14. bore — to drill
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. bore — gave birth
  17. bowl — to roll
  18. kid — to tease
  19. calf — of the leg
  20. scale — in music
  21. clip — a video
  22. clip — to cut
  23. scale — size or range
  24. scale — for weighing

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