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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. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  10. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  11. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  12. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  15. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. file — a tool
  3. degree — from a university
  4. degree — an amount
  5. last — finally
  6. root — of a plant
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. mine — for digging
  9. pitch — completely
  10. racket — a loud noise
  11. root — the cause
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. file — a document
  14. pitch — a sports field
  15. root — of a word
  16. file — a line of people
  17. pitch — a sales talk
  18. degree — temperature
  19. racket — for tennis
  20. last — to go on
  21. shower — to wash
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. last — final

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