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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. That was ________________ to happen.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  9. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  12. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  13. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — certain
  2. degree — from a university
  3. shower — to wash
  4. foot — part of the body
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. leaves — lets stay
  7. degree — temperature
  8. leaves — to go away
  9. leaves — of a tree
  10. degree — an amount
  11. foot — the bottom
  12. dip — to dunk
  13. bound — obliged
  14. kid — child
  15. file — a tool
  16. file — a document
  17. foot — a measure
  18. kid — to tease
  19. bound — tied together
  20. shower — rain
  21. dip — to sink
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. file — a line of people
  24. dip — a sauce

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