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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. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  5. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  13. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  16. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. rock — to move gently
  3. shower — to wash
  4. root — of a word
  5. calf — of the leg
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. hand — help
  8. calf — a young animal
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. cold — an illness
  11. degree — an amount
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. rock — music
  14. cold — not warm
  15. root — of a plant
  16. rock — a stone
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. hand — in cards
  19. spring — the season
  20. root — the cause
  21. spring — of water
  22. degree — from a university
  23. spring — a coil
  24. shower — rain

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