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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 120 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: drill · last · calf · kid · race · foot · fall · degree

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  4. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  5. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. degree — an amount
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. foot — part of the body
  5. foot — the bottom
  6. fall — to drop
  7. last — to go on
  8. drill — army training
  9. drill — the tool
  10. last — finally
  11. kid — to tease
  12. race — the arms race
  13. calf — a young animal
  14. race — humankind
  15. drill — a practice
  16. fall — to drop
  17. fall — the season
  18. degree — temperature
  19. calf — of the leg
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. foot — a measure
  22. race — a contest
  23. kid — child
  24. degree — from a university

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