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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: charge · kid · chest · chip · cold · drill · dip · degree

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  4. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  10. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  11. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The tickets are free of ________________.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. degree — an amount
  3. dip — a sauce
  4. charge — electricity
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. dip — to dunk
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. drill — army training
  9. chip — for betting
  10. chip — in a computer
  11. chip — to eat
  12. degree — temperature
  13. cold — an illness
  14. kid — child
  15. charge — in control
  16. cold — not warm
  17. charge — a price
  18. drill — a practice
  19. chest — a box
  20. drill — the tool
  21. chest — of your body
  22. chest — of your body
  23. kid — to tease
  24. dip — to sink

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