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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: rule · pit · wound · fork · shower · degree

  1. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  9. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. degree — from a university
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. wound — an injury
  5. wound — an injury
  6. pit — in a race
  7. shower — rain
  8. rule — a law
  9. pit — a hole
  10. shower — to wash
  11. degree — temperature
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. fork — in a road
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. rule — government
  16. degree — an amount
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. wound — past of 'wind'

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