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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: rule · foot · bat · degree · kick · cold

  1. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  2. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  3. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. foot — a measure
  2. rule — to rule out
  3. rule — government
  4. degree — from a university
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. kick — with a leg
  7. cold — an illness
  8. degree — an amount
  9. degree — temperature
  10. foot — the bottom
  11. cold — not warm
  12. rule — a law
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. bat — the animal
  15. foot — part of the body
  16. kick — in football
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. bat — in an idiom

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