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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 120 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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  12. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. That must've been a ________________.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. cell — in biology
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. content — happy
  7. net — for catching
  8. shower — rain
  9. rush — to hurry
  10. content — the amount
  11. rock — a stone
  12. rock — music
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. rock — to move gently
  15. net — in sport
  16. degree — temperature
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. degree — from a university
  19. rush — a thrill
  20. degree — an amount
  21. shower — to wash
  22. net — after costs
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. cell — a phone

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