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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 116 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: cap · kid · leaves · degree · bat · dip · band · fall

  1. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  8. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  17. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. dip — to sink
  3. degree — an amount
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. leaves — to go away
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. dip — to dunk
  8. cap — a lid
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. kid — child
  11. band — a ring
  12. fall — to drop
  13. dip — a sauce
  14. degree — from a university
  15. kid — to tease
  16. leaves — of a tree
  17. leaves — lets stay
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. band — a music group
  20. cap — a hat
  21. fall — the season
  22. bat — the animal
  23. cap — of ice
  24. degree — temperature

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