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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: cold · wake · degree · cap · ground · chest · bore · calf

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  3. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  12. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  21. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  22. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  23. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. bore — to tire
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. cap — of ice
  7. ground — crushed
  8. ground — a position
  9. ground — the earth
  10. cap — a lid
  11. bore — to drill
  12. bore — gave birth
  13. cold — an illness
  14. degree — temperature
  15. cold — not warm
  16. chest — of your body
  17. chest — a box
  18. degree — an amount
  19. chest — of your body
  20. calf — of the leg
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. wake — a trail
  23. cap — a hat
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

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