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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: bay · kid · pitcher · degree · hand · mouse · spring · stem

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  12. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  13. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  19. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  20. My mare is ________________ in color.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. Many English words ________________ from Latin.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. mouse — the animal
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. degree — from a university
  5. kid — to tease
  6. spring — of water
  7. hand — in cards
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. degree — temperature
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. stem — a stem cell
  12. mouse — the animal
  13. bay — to keep at bay
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. kid — child
  16. spring — a coil
  17. spring — the season
  18. mouse — for a computer
  19. bay — a part of the sea
  20. bay — a horse colour
  21. degree — an amount
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. stem — to come from

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