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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: arm · hide · scale · racket · calf · cold · march · degree

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. My father caught me by the ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  5. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  17. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  20. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  23. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. cold — an illness
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. calf — a young animal
  6. degree — temperature
  7. march — the month
  8. march — the month
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. arm — a part of something
  12. scale — size or range
  13. degree — an amount
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. scale — in music
  16. hide — animal skin
  17. calf — of the leg
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. degree — from a university
  22. calf — a young animal
  23. racket — a loud noise
  24. march — music

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