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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 116 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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  6. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  14. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  15. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  16. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. degree — an amount
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. club — for dancing
  5. rest — what's left
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. hand — help
  8. rest — what's left
  9. tear — to rip
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. degree — from a university
  12. kid — to tease
  13. calf — of the leg
  14. club — for golf
  15. rest — a break
  16. club — a group
  17. kid — child
  18. calf — a young animal
  19. hand — in cards
  20. degree — temperature
  21. tear — from crying
  22. tear — from crying
  23. cell — in biology
  24. cell — in a prison

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