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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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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: craft · degree · toast · march · wound · tear · shower · rush

  1. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  13. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  14. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  20. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. That must've been a ________________.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. wound — an injury
  3. craft — boats
  4. tear — from crying
  5. march — the month
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. degree — an amount
  8. toast — bread
  9. tear — to rip
  10. degree — from a university
  11. march — music
  12. rush — hurry
  13. craft — a skill
  14. toast — a drink to someone
  15. degree — temperature
  16. wound — an injury
  17. tear — from crying
  18. shower — rain
  19. toast — the most admired
  20. craft — a handicraft
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. march — the month
  23. rush — a thrill
  24. shower — to wash

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