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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  10. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. degree — from a university
  4. ball — a round shape
  5. game — a match
  6. file — a tool
  7. file — a document
  8. ball — a great time
  9. object — to protest
  10. object — an aim
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. sharp — clever
  14. shower — rain
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. file — a line of people
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. ball — a dance
  19. branch — a division
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. degree — temperature
  22. game — wild animals
  23. degree — an amount
  24. object — a thing

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