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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. This piece is in a major ________________.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  11. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. That must've been a ________________.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. He works in a ________________ mill.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. She's very handy with a ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. wind — moving air
  5. sharp — clever
  6. degree — an amount
  7. key — in music
  8. wind — moving air
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. key — for a lock
  11. rush — to hurry
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. key — the most important part
  14. shower — rain
  15. rush — a thrill
  16. degree — from a university
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. saw — the tool
  20. wake — a trail
  21. shower — to wash
  22. saw — the tool
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. degree — temperature

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