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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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Word bank
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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: shower · prune · snap · staff · game · degree

  1. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. shower — a meteor shower
  2. staff — employees
  3. shower — to wash
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. snap — to click
  6. degree — temperature
  7. staff — a stick
  8. degree — from a university
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. game — wild animals
  11. shower — rain
  12. prune — to trim
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. prune — to trim
  15. game — a match
  16. staff — employees
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. degree — an amount

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