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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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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: fork · chest · cabinet · kid · cell · degree · tear · staff

  1. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. What do you think of the new ________________?
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  22. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. tear — from crying
  3. cell — a phone
  4. tear — to rip
  5. staff — a stick
  6. tear — from crying
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. fork — a garden tool
  9. degree — an amount
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. degree — from a university
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. cabinet — ministers
  14. kid — to tease
  15. degree — temperature
  16. kid — child
  17. chest — of your body
  18. chest — a box
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. fork — in a road
  21. staff — employees
  22. cabinet — a cupboard
  23. cell — in biology
  24. chest — of your body

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