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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. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  10. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  13. My father caught me by the ________________.
  14. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  24. Did you ________________ the button?

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. club — a group
  3. shower — rain
  4. degree — from a university
  5. chest — a box
  6. wound — an injury
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. arm — a part of something
  11. chest — of your body
  12. press — a publisher
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. club — for golf
  15. wound — an injury
  16. scale — size or range
  17. degree — temperature
  18. chest — of your body
  19. press — newspapers
  20. degree — an amount
  21. scale — in music
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. club — for dancing
  24. press — to push

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