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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 120 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: ground · kid · cell · craft · cold · calf · degree · pound

  1. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  7. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  8. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  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. craft — boats
  2. kid — child
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. cell — a phone
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. pound — to hit hard
  7. calf — a young animal
  8. pound — a weight
  9. ground — crushed
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. craft — a handicraft
  12. kid — to tease
  13. degree — from a university
  14. craft — a skill
  15. ground — the earth
  16. ground — a position
  17. cell — in biology
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. cold — not warm
  20. calf — of the leg
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. degree — an amount
  23. cold — an illness
  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