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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  6. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  7. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  8. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  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. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. shower — to wash
  3. pound — a weight
  4. degree — temperature
  5. cue — for pool
  6. cue — a hint
  7. pound — for dogs
  8. stem — to come from
  9. degree — an amount
  10. court — for sport
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. cue — a signal
  13. degree — from a university
  14. tear — to rip
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. court — of law
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. tear — from crying
  19. shower — rain
  20. pound — to hit hard
  21. court — of a king
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. trunk — of a tree

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