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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 felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  11. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. The light ________________ burned out.
  15. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  16. I've got to change the light ________________.
  17. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. chest — of your body
  3. chest — of your body
  4. rule — government
  5. shower — rain
  6. cell — a phone
  7. degree — an amount
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. cell — in biology
  10. pound — a weight
  11. bulb — of a plant
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. bulb — for light
  15. rule — to rule out
  16. bulb — for light
  17. rule — a law
  18. degree — temperature
  19. degree — from a university
  20. chest — a box
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. wound — an injury
  24. wound — an injury

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