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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. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The ________________ took off on time.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. Have you met the new head ________________?
  14. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  15. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  16. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. plane — a tool
  2. degree — temperature
  3. degree — an amount
  4. shower — rain
  5. ground — the earth
  6. ground — crushed
  7. band — a music group
  8. cold — an illness
  9. plane — an aircraft
  10. shower — to wash
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. coach — pulled by horses
  15. squash — the sport
  16. plane — in geometry
  17. degree — from a university
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. band — a ring
  20. squash — to crush
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. ground — a position
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. cold — not warm

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