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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. This piece is in a major ________________.
  17. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  18. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  19. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  20. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. bass — the fish
  3. fall — to drop
  4. tube — a container
  5. degree — an amount
  6. fall — to drop
  7. shower — to wash
  8. key — the most important part
  9. tube — the underground
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. fall — the season
  13. degree — temperature
  14. shower — rain
  15. row — a line
  16. key — in music
  17. bass — low music
  18. lean — to bend
  19. key — for a lock
  20. bass — the instrument
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. lean — thin
  23. row — to paddle
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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