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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: perch · hide · degree · wind · mate · leaves · game · kid

  1. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  5. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  22. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. wind — moving air
  3. degree — temperature
  4. leaves — to go away
  5. leaves — lets stay
  6. mate — to breed
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. mate — a friend
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. hide — animal skin
  11. game — a match
  12. perch — the fish
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. kid — to tease
  16. degree — from a university
  17. wind — moving air
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. degree — an amount
  20. game — wild animals
  21. leaves — of a tree
  22. hide — to keep secret
  23. kid — child
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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