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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  12. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  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. degree — an amount
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. shower — rain
  4. prune — to trim
  5. net — in sport
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. degree — temperature
  9. bat — the animal
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. lie — to recline
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. net — for catching
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. file — a line of people
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. prune — to trim
  19. file — a document
  20. net — after costs
  21. file — a tool
  22. shower — to wash
  23. prune — the fruit
  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