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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  4. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  20. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  21. That must've been a ________________.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  24. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. rush — hurry
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. date — the fruit
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. degree — an amount
  7. shower — to wash
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. mine — for digging
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. degree — temperature
  15. racket — a loud noise
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. rush — to hurry
  21. rush — a thrill
  22. shower — rain
  23. snap — to click
  24. date — on the calendar

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