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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  12. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  13. Have you found your soul ________________?
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. degree — from a university
  6. race — the arms race
  7. snap — to click
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. object — a thing
  10. race — humankind
  11. object — to protest
  12. object — an aim
  13. mate — a partner
  14. degree — an amount
  15. mate — a friend
  16. race — a contest
  17. spring — of water
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. mate — to breed
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. degree — temperature
  22. spring — the season
  23. shower — rain
  24. shower — to wash

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