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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. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. lean — thin
  3. shower — rain
  4. present — there
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. wound — an injury
  7. degree — from a university
  8. scale — in music
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. present — the time now
  11. degree — temperature
  12. net — in sport
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. shower — to wash
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. degree — an amount
  18. lean — to bend
  19. wound — an injury
  20. net — for catching
  21. scale — size or range
  22. net — after costs
  23. lean — to rest against
  24. mine — for digging

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