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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 · file · chest · kid · bound · temple · cap · degree

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. When was this ________________ built?
  5. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. That was ________________ to happen.
  24. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. cap — a lid
  3. degree — temperature
  4. temple — a place of worship
  5. bound — obliged
  6. chest — of your body
  7. file — a line of people
  8. bound — tied together
  9. chest — of your body
  10. file — a document
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. temple — a place of worship
  13. cold — an illness
  14. cap — of ice
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. temple — side of the head
  17. chest — a box
  18. kid — to tease
  19. degree — an amount
  20. kid — child
  21. file — a tool
  22. cold — not warm
  23. bound — certain
  24. cap — a hat

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