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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. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  5. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. Don't do anything ________________.
  18. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  24. I seem to be developing a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. shower — to wash
  4. rash — a series
  5. rock — to move gently
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. degree — temperature
  8. rock — a stone
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. rock — music
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. bat — the animal
  13. mine — for digging
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. degree — from a university
  17. rash — hasty
  18. staff — a stick
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. shower — rain
  22. degree — an amount
  23. staff — employees
  24. rash — on the skin

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