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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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Word bank
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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. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  5. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  8. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  9. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  10. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. We're on a ________________ here.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. This piece is in a major ________________.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — a young animal
  2. degree — an amount
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. roll — a cake
  5. key — for a lock
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. roll — a list
  8. calf — of the leg
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. key — the most important part
  11. cold — an illness
  12. prune — to trim
  13. snap — to click
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. roll — on a roll
  17. prune — to trim
  18. cold — not warm
  19. key — in music
  20. cell — a phone
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. degree — temperature
  23. cell — in biology
  24. degree — from a university

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