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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 116 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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  6. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. The ________________ took off on time.
  16. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  17. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. content — happy
  3. drill — army training
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. mate — a friend
  6. plane — in geometry
  7. wind — moving air
  8. shower — to wash
  9. craft — boats
  10. shower — rain
  11. mate — a partner
  12. drill — a practice
  13. wind — moving air
  14. degree — from a university
  15. plane — an aircraft
  16. craft — a handicraft
  17. mate — to breed
  18. content — the amount
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. drill — the tool
  21. degree — temperature
  22. craft — a skill
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. plane — a tool

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