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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 ________________ took off on time.
  2. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  12. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  17. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. plane — an aircraft
  2. vault — an arched ceiling
  3. kid — child
  4. plane — in geometry
  5. shower — to wash
  6. branch — a division
  7. shower — rain
  8. lean — to bend
  9. degree — temperature
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. lean — thin
  12. lean — to rest against
  13. wake — a trail
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. plane — a tool
  17. vault — in gymnastics
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. degree — an amount
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. degree — from a university
  22. vault — a safe
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. kid — to tease

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