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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. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  15. That was ________________ to happen.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  18. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a tree
  2. shower — to wash
  3. dip — to dunk
  4. degree — temperature
  5. land — to come down
  6. degree — an amount
  7. spring — a coil
  8. spring — the season
  9. spring — of water
  10. degree — from a university
  11. land — a country
  12. bound — obliged
  13. net — in sport
  14. dip — to sink
  15. bound — certain
  16. net — for catching
  17. trunk — of a car
  18. trunk — of an elephant
  19. shower — rain
  20. bound — tied together
  21. land — ground
  22. net — after costs
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. dip — a sauce

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