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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: kid · tear · coach · foot · hand · key · dip · degree

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  3. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. This piece is in a major ________________.
  6. Have you met the new head ________________?
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  10. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  15. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  16. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. I have a corn on my right ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. foot — the bottom
  3. key — the most important part
  4. hand — in cards
  5. key — in music
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. degree — an amount
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. coach — pulled by horses
  10. dip — a sauce
  11. degree — from a university
  12. tear — from crying
  13. tear — to rip
  14. dip — to sink
  15. key — for a lock
  16. dip — to dunk
  17. tear — from crying
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. degree — temperature
  20. foot — a measure
  21. hand — help
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. kid — child
  24. foot — part of the 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