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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  10. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  19. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. mouse — for a computer
  3. clip — for paper
  4. wave — of the sea
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. tear — to rip
  7. shower — to wash
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. mouse — the animal
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. shower — rain
  12. degree — temperature
  13. degree — from a university
  14. tear — from crying
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. clip — to cut
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. wave — a sudden rise
  19. perch — the fish
  20. clip — a video
  21. mouse — the animal
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. tear — from crying
  24. wave — with your hand

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