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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. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. This piece is in a major ________________.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. mine — for digging
  4. degree — from a university
  5. key — in music
  6. kid — to tease
  7. face — to point toward
  8. key — for a lock
  9. shower — to wash
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. face — to confront
  13. shower — rain
  14. key — the most important part
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. hand — help
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. degree — temperature
  20. face — part of the head
  21. kid — child
  22. degree — an amount
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. wake — a trail

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