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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: saw · shower · stem · court · ball · degree · drill · spring

  1. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. shower — rain
  3. court — of a king
  4. spring — of water
  5. spring — a coil
  6. spring — the season
  7. stem — to come from
  8. saw — the tool
  9. ball — a dance
  10. court — for sport
  11. stem — of a plant
  12. saw — the tool
  13. court — of law
  14. ball — a great time
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. degree — an amount
  17. degree — from a university
  18. ball — a round shape
  19. drill — army training
  20. saw — past of 'see'
  21. shower — to wash
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. drill — the tool
  24. drill — a practice

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