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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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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: nail · degree · chest · bowl · present · foot · cold · hand

  1. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. The ________________ went through the wall.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  16. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  17. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  18. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  19. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  22. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  23. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — on a finger
  2. degree — an amount
  3. present — there
  4. cold — an illness
  5. hand — help
  6. bowl — a football final
  7. chest — of your body
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. hand — in cards
  11. chest — a box
  12. degree — from a university
  13. cold — not warm
  14. degree — temperature
  15. present — the time now
  16. present — a gift
  17. bowl — to roll
  18. foot — part of the body
  19. foot — a measure
  20. chest — of your body
  21. bowl — a dish
  22. foot — the bottom
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. cold — the Cold War

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