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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 116 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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Word bank
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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: drill · march · degree · ground · cold · suit · wound · shower

  1. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. When will it ________________ you to start?
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. shower — rain
  3. suit — in cards
  4. degree — temperature
  5. shower — to wash
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. degree — an amount
  8. degree — from a university
  9. suit — clothes
  10. ground — a position
  11. suit — to fit
  12. drill — a practice
  13. march — music
  14. drill — the tool
  15. march — the month
  16. ground — the earth
  17. drill — army training
  18. march — the month
  19. ground — crushed
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. cold — not warm
  23. cold — an illness
  24. wound — an injury

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