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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 116 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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  12. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  20. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. The spa offers ________________ extensions.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. degree — temperature
  3. tear — from crying
  4. tube — the underground
  5. tube — a container
  6. tear — from crying
  7. ruler — for measuring
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. spring — of water
  10. shower — to wash
  11. ruler — for measuring
  12. ruler — a monarch
  13. degree — from a university
  14. tear — to rip
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. lash — to lash out
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. spring — the season
  19. tube — in a tire
  20. lash — a whip stroke
  21. shower — rain
  22. bat — the animal
  23. spring — a coil
  24. lash — an eyelash

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