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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 the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  5. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  16. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. bat — the animal
  3. shower — rain
  4. chip — to eat
  5. chip — for betting
  6. shower — to wash
  7. mark — to pay attention
  8. sharp — clever
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. rash — a series
  11. rash — hasty
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. chip — in a computer
  16. mark — a trace
  17. band — a ring
  18. mark — a grade
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. degree — from a university
  21. degree — temperature
  22. degree — an amount
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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