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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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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: content · saw · degree · fork · bulb · kid · shower · net

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. I've got to change the light ________________.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. She's very handy with a ________________.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. The light ________________ burned out.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. degree — temperature
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. kid — child
  5. fork — in a road
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. degree — an amount
  10. bulb — for light
  11. net — in sport
  12. degree — from a university
  13. saw — the tool
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. shower — rain
  17. saw — the tool
  18. bulb — for light
  19. net — for catching
  20. kid — to tease
  21. content — the amount
  22. bulb — of a plant
  23. shower — to wash
  24. net — after costs

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