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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 116 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: hand · safe · bat · kid · wind · degree · capital · snap

  1. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. Is it ________________ for us to be here?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. safe — a strongbox
  3. hand — in cards
  4. kid — child
  5. wind — moving air
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. bat — the animal
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. snap — to click
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. capital — a city
  14. degree — an amount
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. capital — money
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. degree — from a university
  19. safe — out of danger
  20. wind — moving air
  21. kid — to tease
  22. hand — help
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. safe — out of danger

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