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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: kid · hide · mate · racket · degree · stem

  1. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  7. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  12. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. degree — an amount
  3. mate — a partner
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. kid — child
  6. racket — for tennis
  7. hide — animal skin
  8. kid — to tease
  9. mate — a friend
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. mate — to breed
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. stem — to come from
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. degree — from a university
  16. degree — temperature
  17. racket — a loud noise
  18. stem — of a plant

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