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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: hide · bulb · kid · pit · march · capital · degree · straw

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  5. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  6. The light ________________ burned out.
  7. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  14. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  15. I've got to change the light ________________.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. kid — to tease
  3. degree — from a university
  4. pit — a hole
  5. bulb — of a plant
  6. bulb — for light
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. march — the month
  9. degree — an amount
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. hide — animal skin
  15. bulb — for light
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. capital — a city
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. march — the month
  21. march — music
  22. pit — in a race
  23. capital — money
  24. degree — temperature

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