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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: wind · kid · date · craft · degree · wake

  1. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  6. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  16. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  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. craft — a skill
  2. degree — an amount
  3. wind — moving air
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. date — the fruit
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. degree — temperature
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. kid — child
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. wind — moving air
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. craft — boats
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. craft — a handicraft
  16. wake — a trail
  17. kid — to tease
  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