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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: fork · hide · degree · net · kid · track · cold · sharp

  1. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  16. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  24. He keeps ________________ of his days.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. sharp — clever
  3. degree — from a university
  4. fork — in a road
  5. net — after costs
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. hide — animal skin
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. cold — an illness
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. net — for catching
  14. net — in sport
  15. track — a path
  16. track — a song
  17. degree — an amount
  18. cold — not warm
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. kid — child
  22. kid — to tease
  23. hide — to keep secret
  24. track — to keep track

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