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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. What do you think of the new ________________?
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. scale — size or range
  3. drill — a practice
  4. drill — the tool
  5. track — a path
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. track — a song
  8. scale — in music
  9. spring — of water
  10. cabinet — ministers
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. shower — rain
  14. track — to keep track
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. degree — temperature
  17. spring — a coil
  18. mine — for digging
  19. degree — from a university
  20. degree — an amount
  21. drill — army training
  22. cabinet — a cupboard
  23. spring — the season
  24. cabinet — ministers

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