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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 116 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: degree · calf · hide · shower · hand · tube · sharp · tear

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  21. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. hide — animal skin
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. tear — to rip
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. degree — from a university
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. degree — temperature
  11. hand — in cards
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. shower — rain
  14. tube — the underground
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. tube — a container
  17. shower — to wash
  18. calf — of the leg
  19. tear — from crying
  20. sharp — clever
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. tear — from crying
  23. hide — to keep secret
  24. degree — an amount

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