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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: net · mark · charge · degree · cold · kid · tear · root

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  6. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  10. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  11. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. The tickets are free of ________________.
  15. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. net — after costs
  3. degree — an amount
  4. kid — child
  5. mark — a trace
  6. root — the cause
  7. tear — from crying
  8. net — in sport
  9. mark — to pay attention
  10. mark — a grade
  11. charge — electricity
  12. degree — temperature
  13. kid — to tease
  14. charge — a price
  15. root — of a word
  16. cold — an illness
  17. charge — in control
  18. degree — from a university
  19. root — of a plant
  20. cold — not warm
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. tear — to rip
  24. net — for catching

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