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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. You don't need to ________________ round.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. We're almost out of ________________.
  19. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. kid — child
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. sharp — clever
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. lash — to lash out
  8. hand — in cards
  9. degree — from a university
  10. degree — temperature
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. lash — a whip stroke
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. pop — to visit
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. pop — music
  18. pop — soda
  19. lash — an eyelash
  20. capital — a city
  21. degree — an amount
  22. kid — to tease
  23. capital — money
  24. perch — the fish

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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