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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. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  13. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  14. We're on a ________________ here.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  19. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  22. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. Have you met the new head ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. hand — help
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. kid — to tease
  8. degree — an amount
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. capital — money
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. roll — a cake
  14. roll — on a roll
  15. kid — child
  16. capital — a city
  17. hand — in cards
  18. coach — pulled by horses
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. degree — temperature
  21. date — the fruit
  22. roll — a list
  23. degree — from a university
  24. coach — a trainer

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