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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  5. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  6. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. When was this ________________ built?
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  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. degree — an amount
  2. degree — from a university
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. temple — a place of worship
  5. trunk — of a tree
  6. bowl — a football final
  7. march — music
  8. spring — a coil
  9. temple — a place of worship
  10. tear — from crying
  11. spring — of water
  12. tear — from crying
  13. bowl — to roll
  14. spring — the season
  15. march — the month
  16. shower — to wash
  17. temple — side of the head
  18. march — the month
  19. shower — rain
  20. degree — temperature
  21. bowl — a dish
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. tear — to rip
  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