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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: kid · degree · content · pound · wave · deal

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  3. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  4. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  5. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  11. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  15. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  16. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. pound — a weight
  3. deal — an agreement
  4. pound — for dogs
  5. wave — a sudden rise
  6. kid — child
  7. content — happy
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. content — the amount
  10. deal — to handle
  11. pound — to hit hard
  12. degree — from a university
  13. kid — to tease
  14. deal — a big deal
  15. wave — with your hand
  16. wave — of the sea
  17. degree — temperature
  18. content — videos and posts

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