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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: net · degree · kid · craft · can · cold · clip · wave

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  3. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  4. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  5. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  10. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  13. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. can — a tin
  3. craft — a handicraft
  4. can — a tin
  5. craft — boats
  6. net — after costs
  7. degree — temperature
  8. degree — from a university
  9. wave — with your hand
  10. craft — a skill
  11. degree — an amount
  12. wave — a sudden rise
  13. wave — of the sea
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. clip — for paper
  16. can — to be able to
  17. cold — an illness
  18. clip — to cut
  19. kid — child
  20. kid — to tease
  21. net — in sport
  22. net — for catching
  23. clip — a video
  24. cold — the Cold War

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