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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. That must've been a ________________.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. tube — the underground
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. degree — an amount
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. rush — a thrill
  8. fall — to drop
  9. spring — of water
  10. shower — to wash
  11. tube — a container
  12. spring — the season
  13. band — a ring
  14. spring — a coil
  15. rush — to hurry
  16. degree — temperature
  17. rush — hurry
  18. fall — to drop
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. shower — rain
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. fall — the season
  23. band — a music group
  24. tube — in a tire

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