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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 116 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. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  5. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  10. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  11. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. I'll be taking the ________________.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. object — a thing
  2. tube — a container
  3. shower — rain
  4. leaves — lets stay
  5. object — to protest
  6. degree — an amount
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. kid — to tease
  9. leaves — of a tree
  10. trunk — of a tree
  11. leaves — to go away
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. tube — in a tire
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. bat — the animal
  17. shower — to wash
  18. degree — from a university
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. tube — the underground
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. degree — temperature
  23. kid — child
  24. object — an aim

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