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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. tube — a container
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. court — of law
  5. shower — rain
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. deal — an agreement
  8. degree — an amount
  9. court — of a king
  10. court — for sport
  11. degree — from a university
  12. land — ground
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. deal — to handle
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. snap — to click
  17. degree — temperature
  18. deal — a big deal
  19. tube — the underground
  20. land — a country
  21. hand — help
  22. land — to come down
  23. hand — in cards
  24. tube — in a tire

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