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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. That must've been a ________________.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  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. shower — to wash
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. bat — the animal
  4. spring — the season
  5. degree — from a university
  6. spring — of water
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. scale — in music
  9. rush — hurry
  10. shower — rain
  11. rush — a thrill
  12. spring — a coil
  13. degree — an amount
  14. rush — to hurry
  15. prune — to trim
  16. spell — magic
  17. spell — letters
  18. degree — temperature
  19. prune — to trim
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. spell — a short time
  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