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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. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. spring — of water
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. stick — to attach or keep to
  7. shower — to wash
  8. shower — rain
  9. saw — past of 'see'
  10. saw — the tool
  11. cold — not warm
  12. pass — to spend time
  13. spring — the season
  14. pass — a permit
  15. degree — temperature
  16. spring — a coil
  17. cold — an illness
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. degree — from a university
  20. stick — a piece of wood
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. pass — to succeed
  23. degree — an amount
  24. trunk — of a tree

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