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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: shower · pitch · degree · face · spell · bulb · bat · plane

  1. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. The ________________ took off on time.
  4. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  5. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  14. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  15. The light ________________ burned out.
  16. I've got to change the light ________________.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  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. pitch — a sales talk
  2. bat — the animal
  3. plane — an aircraft
  4. pitch — a sports field
  5. plane — a tool
  6. spell — letters
  7. plane — in geometry
  8. shower — to wash
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. spell — magic
  11. degree — from a university
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. pitch — completely
  14. bulb — of a plant
  15. bulb — for light
  16. bulb — for light
  17. shower — rain
  18. degree — an amount
  19. face — to point toward
  20. spell — a short time
  21. face — to confront
  22. degree — temperature
  23. face — part of the head
  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