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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: saw · degree · deal · kid · wound · foot · cold · bark

  1. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  4. He works in a ________________ mill.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  9. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  10. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  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. saw — the tool
  2. degree — temperature
  3. saw — past of 'see'
  4. saw — the tool
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. deal — to handle
  7. degree — an amount
  8. foot — the bottom
  9. foot — a measure
  10. deal — an agreement
  11. wound — an injury
  12. kid — child
  13. degree — from a university
  14. foot — part of the body
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. wound — an injury
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. deal — a big deal
  20. bark — to shout
  21. cold — not warm
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. cold — an illness
  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