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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: deal · kid · cold · club · capital · degree

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  18. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. cold — not warm
  3. deal — to handle
  4. degree — temperature
  5. club — a group
  6. kid — child
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. degree — an amount
  10. degree — from a university
  11. capital — money
  12. club — for dancing
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. capital — a city
  15. club — for golf
  16. kid — to tease
  17. deal — an agreement
  18. deal — a big deal

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