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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: nail · shower · calf · degree · cold · fall · capital · perch

  1. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  12. The ________________ went through the wall.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  15. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — a young animal
  2. shower — to wash
  3. cold — not warm
  4. capital — a city
  5. degree — from a university
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. fall — to drop
  8. calf — a young animal
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. nail — on a finger
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. calf — of the leg
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. fall — to drop
  17. capital — money
  18. degree — an amount
  19. perch — the fish
  20. cold — an illness
  21. fall — the season
  22. degree — temperature
  23. shower — rain
  24. capital — a big letter

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