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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: wound · craft · kid · degree · pitch · chair

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  7. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  12. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. 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. kid — to tease
  2. craft — a skill
  3. wound — an injury
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. degree — temperature
  6. pitch — a sports field
  7. craft — boats
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. craft — a handicraft
  12. pitch — completely
  13. kid — child
  14. wound — an injury
  15. degree — an amount
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. chair — a leader
  18. 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