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

Word bank: cell · degree · chip · cap · kid · shower

  1. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  9. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  10. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. kid — to tease
  3. kid — child
  4. degree — an amount
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. chip — for betting
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. cap — a lid
  9. chip — to eat
  10. cap — a hat
  11. degree — temperature
  12. cap — of ice
  13. cell — a phone
  14. shower — to wash
  15. cell — in biology
  16. chip — in a computer
  17. degree — from a university
  18. shower — rain

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