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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: squash · content · fork · fine · degree · kid · shower · season

  1. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  3. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. fine — all right
  3. fine — high quality
  4. content — happy
  5. fork — a garden tool
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. degree — from a university
  9. season — of the year
  10. kid — child
  11. kid — to tease
  12. degree — temperature
  13. content — the amount
  14. squash — the sport
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. fork — in a road
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. degree — an amount
  19. squash — the vegetable
  20. shower — to wash
  21. shower — rain
  22. fine — a penalty
  23. squash — to crush
  24. season — in sport

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