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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: kid · wound · degree · pitcher · foot · staff · snap · mine

  1. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  5. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. degree — from a university
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. foot — part of the body
  5. staff — employees
  6. mine — for digging
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. degree — temperature
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. wound — an injury
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. snap — to click
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. foot — a measure
  18. degree — an amount
  19. staff — a stick
  20. kid — child
  21. wound — an injury
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. foot — the bottom
  24. kid — to tease

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