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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. The ________________ took off on time.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  15. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  20. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. plane — an aircraft
  5. degree — temperature
  6. row — to paddle
  7. row — a line
  8. deal — a big deal
  9. land — to come down
  10. net — for catching
  11. land — a country
  12. shower — rain
  13. degree — from a university
  14. deal — an agreement
  15. plane — a tool
  16. shower — to wash
  17. wound — an injury
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. plane — in geometry
  20. deal — to handle
  21. wound — an injury
  22. net — after costs
  23. land — ground
  24. net — in sport

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