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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: hide · straw · degree · land · game · kid · ball · clip

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. The King held a masked ________________.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. degree — temperature
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. kid — to tease
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. ball — a dance
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. degree — from a university
  9. clip — a video
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. kid — child
  12. land — to come down
  13. hide — animal skin
  14. game — a match
  15. hide — to keep secret
  16. clip — to cut
  17. clip — for paper
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. land — ground
  22. game — wild animals
  23. land — a country
  24. ball — a great time

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