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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  22. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. cap — a lid
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. degree — an amount
  6. deal — to handle
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. wax — to grow
  9. scale — size or range
  10. cap — of ice
  11. scale — in music
  12. last — to go on
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. deal — a big deal
  15. degree — temperature
  16. last — finally
  17. shower — rain
  18. degree — from a university
  19. scale — for weighing
  20. mine — for digging
  21. deal — an agreement
  22. wax — in the ear
  23. last — final
  24. cap — a hat

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