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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. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  5. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. My father caught me by the ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  20. We're almost out of ________________.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. present — a gift
  3. degree — an amount
  4. bore — gave birth
  5. present — the time now
  6. shower — to wash
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. bore — to drill
  9. pop — to visit
  10. bore — to tire
  11. pop — music
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. degree — temperature
  17. arm — a part of something
  18. cell — a phone
  19. present — there
  20. pop — soda
  21. cell — in biology
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. shower — rain
  24. degree — from a university

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