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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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  4. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  5. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  14. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. shower — rain
  3. jam — to spread on bread
  4. club — for golf
  5. kick — with a leg
  6. degree — an amount
  7. degree — from a university
  8. shower — to wash
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. cold — an illness
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. kick — in football
  13. club — for dancing
  14. jam — in traffic
  15. cold — not warm
  16. content — happy
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. jam — a tight spot
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. club — a group
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. kick — a thrill
  24. content — the amount

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