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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. He works in a ________________ mill.
  6. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  7. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  18. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. calf — a young animal
  3. degree — temperature
  4. clip — to cut
  5. saw — the tool
  6. dip — to dunk
  7. calf — of the leg
  8. saw — the tool
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. bark — to shout
  12. track — to keep track
  13. degree — from a university
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. dip — a sauce
  16. kid — child
  17. calf — a young animal
  18. track — a path
  19. clip — a video
  20. dip — to sink
  21. degree — an amount
  22. track — a song
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. clip — for paper

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