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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. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  3. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. That must've been a ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. Don't do anything ________________.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. track — to keep track
  3. object — to protest
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. object — an aim
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. rush — hurry
  8. shower — rain
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. track — a song
  11. degree — from a university
  12. shower — to wash
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. rush — a thrill
  15. degree — temperature
  16. bat — the animal
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. object — a thing
  19. stem — to come from
  20. track — a path
  21. rash — hasty
  22. rash — a series
  23. rash — on the skin
  24. degree — an 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