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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. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  8. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  22. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. Have you found your soul ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. sharp — clever
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. shower — to wash
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. chest — of your body
  7. season — in sport
  8. mate — a friend
  9. degree — an amount
  10. degree — from a university
  11. track — to keep track
  12. degree — temperature
  13. sharp — with an edge
  14. shower — rain
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. cell — in biology
  18. cell — a phone
  19. mate — to breed
  20. chest — of your body
  21. track — a song
  22. track — a path
  23. chest — a box
  24. mate — a partner

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