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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. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  2. What do you think of the new ________________?
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  19. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  20. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  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. cabinet — a cupboard
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. mine — for digging
  4. degree — from a university
  5. degree — temperature
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. shower — to wash
  9. kid — to tease
  10. shower — rain
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. cabinet — ministers
  14. kid — child
  15. lash — a whip stroke
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. fine — all right
  18. lash — to lash out
  19. fine — high quality
  20. fine — a penalty
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. degree — an amount
  23. lash — an eyelash
  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