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

  1. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  13. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. David sat on the ________________.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. degree — an amount
  3. rash — a series
  4. swing — in golf
  5. rash — hasty
  6. wake — a trail
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. wake — before a funeral
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. degree — from a university
  15. degree — temperature
  16. swing — music
  17. shower — rain
  18. tear — to rip
  19. tear — from crying
  20. tear — from crying
  21. scale — in music
  22. swing — to play on
  23. shower — to wash
  24. scale — size or range

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