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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. The ________________ took off on time.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. degree — an amount
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. plane — an aircraft
  5. degree — temperature
  6. plane — a tool
  7. sharp — clever
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. wax — for sculpting
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. tear — from crying
  12. object — to protest
  13. tear — to rip
  14. object — an aim
  15. degree — from a university
  16. wax — to grow
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. plane — in geometry
  21. tear — from crying
  22. shower — rain
  23. object — a thing
  24. straw — dry grass

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