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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  6. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  11. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  12. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  20. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  24. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. degree — an amount
  3. stick — a piece of wood
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. craft — a handicraft
  6. craft — a skill
  7. hand — help
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. current — happening now
  11. current — electric
  12. current — of water
  13. fork — in a road
  14. degree — from a university
  15. kid — to tease
  16. degree — temperature
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. craft — boats
  20. stick — a piece of wood
  21. hand — in cards
  22. bat — the animal
  23. stick — to attach or keep to
  24. fork — to eat with

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