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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: content · club · degree · cell · straw · shower

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  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. degree — from a university
  2. shower — rain
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. degree — temperature
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. content — the amount
  7. club — for golf
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. club — a group
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. club — for dancing
  12. shower — to wash
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. cell — a phone
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. cell — in biology
  17. content — happy
  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