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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. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  2. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  17. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. can — a tin
  2. fine — all right
  3. degree — an amount
  4. fine — high quality
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. file — a tool
  7. pound — to hit hard
  8. wound — an injury
  9. shower — rain
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. file — a line of people
  12. bat — the animal
  13. file — a document
  14. degree — from a university
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. can — a tin
  17. pound — a weight
  18. wound — an injury
  19. can — to be able to
  20. degree — temperature
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. fine — a penalty
  24. shower — to wash

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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