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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. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  3. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  4. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  5. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  6. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  14. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  17. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  22. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  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. scale — size or range
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. tube — in a tire
  5. tube — a container
  6. pass — to succeed
  7. shower — to wash
  8. wake — a trail
  9. tube — the underground
  10. pass — to spend time
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. fan — to cool the air
  15. shower — rain
  16. pit — in a race
  17. pass — a permit
  18. degree — temperature
  19. pit — a fruit stone
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. wake — to stop sleeping
  22. pit — a hole
  23. scale — in music
  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