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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. Have you settled on a ________________?
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. I can't ________________ this cold.
  22. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. wind — moving air
  3. sharp — clever
  4. shower — rain
  5. degree — temperature
  6. degree — an amount
  7. date — the fruit
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. prune — to trim
  10. shower — to wash
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. prune — to trim
  15. wind — moving air
  16. kid — to tease
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. kid — child
  21. stand — to bear
  22. stand — on your feet
  23. degree — from a university
  24. stand — for spectators

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