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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 120 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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  7. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  8. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. When was this ________________ built?
  24. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. tear — to rip
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. degree — from a university
  6. bowl — a dish
  7. temple — a place of worship
  8. root — of a plant
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. root — of a word
  11. tear — from crying
  12. temple — side of the head
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. root — the cause
  15. tear — from crying
  16. degree — temperature
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. bowl — a football final
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. degree — an amount
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. bat — the animal
  23. temple — a place of worship
  24. bowl — to roll

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