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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: hand · arm · degree · lean · bat · wave · cabinet · cold

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  8. What do you think of the new ________________?
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  16. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. My father caught me by the ________________.
  21. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  22. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. degree — an amount
  3. cabinet — ministers
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. degree — from a university
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. lean — to rest against
  8. cabinet — ministers
  9. degree — temperature
  10. arm — a part of something
  11. bat — the animal
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. wave — with your hand
  14. cold — an illness
  15. wave — of the sea
  16. wave — a sudden rise
  17. hand — help
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. lean — to bend
  22. lean — thin
  23. hand — in cards
  24. cabinet — a cupboard

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