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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. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. Have you met the new head ________________?
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. Don't do anything ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. degree — temperature
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. degree — an amount
  6. row — a line
  7. court — for sport
  8. court — of law
  9. bark — to shout
  10. shower — to wash
  11. coach — pulled by horses
  12. court — of a king
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. shower — rain
  16. degree — from a university
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. wake — a trail
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. row — to paddle
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. rash — a series
  24. rash — hasty

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