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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: degree · rock · straw · vault · shower · cell

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  14. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  15. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. degree — from a university
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. shower — rain
  5. rock — music
  6. degree — temperature
  7. shower — to wash
  8. vault — a safe
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. cell — in biology
  13. vault — an arched ceiling
  14. rock — a stone
  15. rock — to move gently
  16. cell — a phone
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. vault — in gymnastics

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