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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: cold · mouse · hand · cell · pound · kid · degree · toast

  1. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  12. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  13. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. cell — a phone
  3. degree — temperature
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. cold — not warm
  6. mouse — for a computer
  7. degree — from a university
  8. mouse — the animal
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. hand — help
  11. mouse — the animal
  12. toast — bread
  13. toast — the most admired
  14. degree — an amount
  15. pound — a weight
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. kid — to tease
  18. pound — to hit hard
  19. cell — in biology
  20. hand — in cards
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. cold — an illness
  23. kid — child
  24. toast — a drink to someone

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