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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. When was this ________________ built?
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. snap — to click
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. temple — side of the head
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. degree — from a university
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. drill — army training
  10. degree — an amount
  11. drill — a practice
  12. spell — letters
  13. temple — a place of worship
  14. spell — magic
  15. temple — a place of worship
  16. shower — rain
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. bat — the animal
  19. spell — a short time
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. pitch — completely
  22. degree — temperature
  23. drill — the tool
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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