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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: tear · nail · shower · degree · chest · calf

  1. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  2. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  5. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. The ________________ went through the wall.
  8. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — on a finger
  2. calf — of the leg
  3. degree — an amount
  4. calf — a young animal
  5. calf — a young animal
  6. chest — of your body
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. degree — from a university
  10. chest — of your body
  11. shower — rain
  12. chest — a box
  13. tear — from crying
  14. degree — temperature
  15. tear — from crying
  16. tear — to rip
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. shower — to wash

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