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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. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  2. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  3. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  7. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  10. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. object — to protest
  2. wave — a sudden rise
  3. present — the time now
  4. shower — to wash
  5. degree — from a university
  6. wave — of the sea
  7. object — an aim
  8. cell — a phone
  9. wave — with your hand
  10. present — there
  11. degree — an amount
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. shower — rain
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. degree — temperature
  16. game — a match
  17. present — a gift
  18. content — happy
  19. cell — in biology
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. content — the amount
  22. object — a thing
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. game — wild animals

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