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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: saw · degree · last · craft · racket · cold · kid · capital

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. She's very handy with a ________________.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  7. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  8. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  11. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. racket — a loud noise
  3. kid — child
  4. saw — the tool
  5. last — finally
  6. craft — a skill
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. craft — a handicraft
  11. saw — past of 'see'
  12. degree — an amount
  13. cold — an illness
  14. capital — money
  15. capital — a city
  16. kid — to tease
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. cold — not warm
  19. degree — temperature
  20. last — final
  21. craft — boats
  22. saw — the tool
  23. last — to go on
  24. capital — a big letter

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