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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: row · ball · spell · wind · shower · degree

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. The King held a masked ________________.
  18. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. ball — a great time
  3. spell — letters
  4. shower — to wash
  5. wind — moving air
  6. degree — an amount
  7. spell — a short time
  8. shower — rain
  9. row — a line
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. spell — magic
  12. row — to paddle
  13. wind — moving air
  14. degree — temperature
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. degree — from a university
  17. ball — a dance
  18. ball — a round shape

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