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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. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  5. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. That must've been a ________________.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  22. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  23. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. prune — to trim
  3. degree — an amount
  4. rock — to move gently
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. degree — temperature
  7. rush — hurry
  8. shower — to wash
  9. shower — rain
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. tear — from crying
  13. rush — a thrill
  14. bat — the animal
  15. tear — from crying
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. rock — music
  18. prune — to trim
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. tear — to rip
  21. racket — a loud noise
  22. rock — a stone
  23. rush — to hurry
  24. degree — from a university

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