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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: fork · chest · cabinet · kid · cell · degree

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. What do you think of the new ________________?
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. cell — a phone
  6. kid — to tease
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. cell — in biology
  9. kid — child
  10. cabinet — a cupboard
  11. chest — a box
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. degree — from a university
  14. fork — in a road
  15. degree — temperature
  16. chest — of your body
  17. cabinet — ministers
  18. chest — of your body

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