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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. The ________________ went through the wall.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  17. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  18. The old man leaned on his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. degree — an amount
  3. staff — employees
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. shower — rain
  6. clip — for paper
  7. clip — a video
  8. staff — employees
  9. sharp — clever
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. clip — to cut
  12. degree — temperature
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. shower — to wash
  16. nail — on a finger
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. staff — a stick

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