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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. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. We're almost out of ________________.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  16. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. degree — an amount
  3. rock — to move gently
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. shower — rain
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. stick — to attach or keep to
  8. shower — to wash
  9. spring — a coil
  10. pop — soda
  11. bark — to shout
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. pop — to visit
  14. spring — of water
  15. rock — music
  16. rock — a stone
  17. pop — music
  18. bat — the animal
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. degree — from a university
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. degree — temperature
  24. stick — a piece of wood

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