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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: craft · kid · court · cold · band · nail · degree · current

  1. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  4. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  9. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  10. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. The ________________ went through the wall.
  22. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. cold — an illness
  3. craft — boats
  4. current — electric
  5. degree — an amount
  6. current — of water
  7. cold — not warm
  8. nail — on a finger
  9. craft — a skill
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. court — for sport
  12. kid — to tease
  13. kid — child
  14. degree — temperature
  15. band — a music group
  16. current — happening now
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. court — of a king
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. craft — a handicraft
  23. degree — from a university
  24. band — a ring

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