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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 120 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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  3. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. The ________________ took off on time.
  6. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  17. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. bank — for money
  3. plane — in geometry
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. plane — an aircraft
  6. lash — an eyelash
  7. bat — the animal
  8. degree — temperature
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. row — a line
  11. plane — a tool
  12. sharp — clever
  13. degree — from a university
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. lash — a whip stroke
  17. bank — for money
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. row — to paddle
  22. bank — of a river
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. lash — to lash out

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