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

Word bank: bowl · bat · wake · stem · cell · degree

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. stem — of a plant
  4. degree — from a university
  5. stem — to come from
  6. bowl — to roll
  7. degree — temperature
  8. wake — before a funeral
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. stem — a stem cell
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. wake — a trail
  14. cell — a phone
  15. bowl — a dish
  16. cell — in biology
  17. bowl — a football final
  18. bat — the animal

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