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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: cold · kick · object · kid · rush · squash · degree · capital

  1. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  14. That must've been a ________________.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  19. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  20. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the vegetable
  2. capital — money
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. degree — from a university
  5. capital — a city
  6. kid — to tease
  7. object — an aim
  8. squash — the sport
  9. rush — to hurry
  10. degree — temperature
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. cold — not warm
  13. object — to protest
  14. rush — a thrill
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. cold — an illness
  17. squash — to crush
  18. object — a thing
  19. kick — with a leg
  20. rush — hurry
  21. degree — an amount
  22. kid — child
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. kick — in football

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