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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 120 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: deal · nail · spring · stem · calf · cap · cold · degree

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  5. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. The ________________ went through the wall.
  8. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  9. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  12. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  13. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. cap — a hat
  3. cap — a lid
  4. calf — a young animal
  5. deal — a big deal
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. deal — to handle
  10. stem — to come from
  11. cap — of ice
  12. nail — on a finger
  13. deal — an agreement
  14. cold — an illness
  15. spring — of water
  16. degree — temperature
  17. spring — a coil
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. cold — not warm
  20. calf — a young animal
  21. degree — an amount
  22. calf — of the leg
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. spring — the season

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