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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: snap · wind · degree · shower · bat · kid · pound · toast

  1. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  4. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  17. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. pound — for dogs
  4. toast — bread
  5. shower — rain
  6. kid — to tease
  7. degree — temperature
  8. kid — child
  9. wind — moving air
  10. degree — from a university
  11. pound — a weight
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. toast — a drink to someone
  15. wind — moving air
  16. pound — to hit hard
  17. toast — the most admired
  18. shower — to wash
  19. degree — an amount
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. snap — to click
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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