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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. degree — temperature
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. net — for catching
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. pound — for dogs
  8. degree — an amount
  9. wake — a trail
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. capital — money
  12. net — after costs
  13. degree — from a university
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. capital — a city
  16. shower — rain
  17. net — in sport
  18. pound — a weight

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