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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 124 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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. We're on a ________________ here.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  22. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. present — there
  4. shower — to wash
  5. ground — a position
  6. roll — a list
  7. face — to confront
  8. shower — rain
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. degree — from a university
  11. wake — to stop sleeping
  12. wake — a trail
  13. roll — on a roll
  14. face — to point toward
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. cell — a phone
  17. present — the time now
  18. ground — the earth
  19. ground — crushed
  20. degree — temperature
  21. roll — a cake
  22. present — a gift
  23. cell — in biology
  24. face — part of the head

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